Keitaro, The Shinigami!
by fatyao
Summary: Keitaro dies and is sent to Rukongai. What will happen to him and the Hinata girls? LoveHinaxBleach crossover
1. Chapter 1

**Keitaro, the Shinigami!**

A Love HinaxBleach Crossover

Should I even bother to attempt this? I decided to give myself a challenge and crossover 2 animes that have NOTHING whatsoever to do with each other. I'm not sure if this is possible, but I did it for fun, due to my unbelievable boredom as of now. So let me know if this could work out?

A couple of quick notes, this fic will be focusing on the action part of Bleach rather than any romance. Some character interaction, but I made this fic more for the action and seeing if 2 completely different stories could mix.

None of these characters are mine! No one and nothing! Alright? Good. Now here's my first attempt at a crossover. Let me know if this works.

Reading both Love Hina and Bleach manga or watching their anime is suggested. I'm not one for explanations, and I sure as hell don't want to explain that promise thing again.

Oh by the way, lots of character deaths from Love Hina. That's what's expected of course.

**-----Chapter 1**

Keitaro Urashima walked along the halls of the Hinata dorm, bored as usual. It was silent and even though all of its residents were there, there was nothing going on at all. In fact, nothing exciting had happened in the dorm for the last month.

For anyone who has ever been to Hinata dorm, would know, that the very idea of a boring Hinata dorm would be crazy. Keitaro Urashima surely must be lying, they would say. How could Hinata dorm, where explosions occurred daily and males were frequently seen flying off into the sky, be silent? The only time the crazy building was ever quiet was at night and early times in the morning, and on special occasions, when only a few or no residents were currently inside.

Then again, for those people who had been there in the last month would know why the dorm was so quiet, so boring, so…depressing.

The story of how Hinata dorm came to be this way was long but it could be told really quickly just by observing Keitaro Urashima.

Keitaro sighed and went to the living room to find Kitsune sitting on the couch not doing anything at all. Keitaro waved his hands in front of her. She did nothing. He also started doing a dance that resembled a drunken guy on crack. She did nothing. She didn't even seem to notice him at all. Keitaro chuckled and floated through the wall to go outside and went around the dorm.

WAIT? FLOATED? THROUGH A WALL? FLOATED? How was this possible? Why not ask the man yourself?

_My name is Keitaro Urashima, 19. My birthday?I forgot. The only date important in my memory right now is the day I died. I am Keitaro Urashima, former manager of Hinata All-Girls Dorm. And I died last month._

**Chapter One: Death and the Ronin; The Day I Died.**

Keitaro Urashima. The last person you would expect to die. His astounding ability to stand back up no matter what happened to him was amazing. He was sent flying to the altitude that most planes couldn't reach. He got hit directly with missiles, punched 500 feet away, sliced by a katana and a special energy called "Ki". So how was it that a single car could kill him?

Keitaro was walking home after one of Naru's usual punches from accidentally peeking in on her in the hot springs, which sent him flying several miles away. As usual, he appeared back at Hinata in an instant. While he was crossing the street to Hinata, a speeding car apparently hadn't seen the red traffic light. It was going at over 100 MPH, an impressive speed, especially in a city. The driver, Kentaro Sakata, had been trying to impress a few lady friends with his new sports car. Even if he had seen the red light, he couldn't have stopped in time; the car was simply going too fast.

The car had killed him on impact. That would be counted as a mercy seeing as how Keitaro somehow got stuck below the car, leaving the car to drag him for several hundred feet before the car could finally stop, leaving a massive streak of blood, that would have killed him either way even if he did survive the impact. He never had a chance.

All Keitaro remembered was crossing a crosswalk and then seeing a speeding car rush at him. One second, he was walking and the next he was floating in midair, seeing his own body dragged and beaten up. At first he thought he was either drunk or high or dreaming. How could this happen to him, the invincible ronin?

He watched silently as the paramedics came. He continued to watch as the police apprehended the driver. And then his family came, crying as they saw his beaten up body. Then finally, he saw the Hinata girls, come, all of them crying once they saw his body. He was finally forced to realize the truth. He was dead. He was dead and he wasn't coming back. He wasn't going to miraculously stand up and started walking away as if nothing happened. He was finally dead.

He couldn't believe it. He didn't want to. How could his body suddenly give up like that after so much? The frustration he felt at never being able to fulfill his promise to both his promise girl and Naru. The pain he felt as he saw the person he loved most, Naru, sitting in her room, not saying anything, nor eating, only crying. Was this his punishment? What had he done to deserve this?

He had worked so hard in his life trying to fulfill a promise. He gave up nearly everything for that one goal and now he was killed in an instant. Was the universe that cruel? All of that time… wasted. His life…meaningless.

And now, he couldn't even pass on, forcing to spend the rest of his life as a ghost, watching as his loved ones tore themselves apart. Even watching Naru and Motoko beat up on Kentarou, the driver, didn't help.

Shinobu seemingly lost the will to live. Su shut herself up in her room everyday. Naru cried nonstop. Motoko would furiously train and meditate nonstop, hardly eating any meals. Kitsune would continue to drink alchohol, and she drank more than he had ever saw. Why did it have to be like this?

Keitaro sighed and stopped his moment of contemplation, cursed himself for sounding like some horribly depressed haunted spirit and drifted throughout Hinata Inn again, watching each of the tenants before finally settling down in the kitchen to eat dinner with them. Not that he could, but he felt comforted by the fact he could sit down with everyone despite the gloomy atmosphere.

Naru seemed to blame herself entirely, as if it was entirely her fault that Keitaro died. Kitsune tried her best to make Naru feel better, but it was hard for her since she was always drinking. The table was quiet as always. Keitaro sighed for the 30th time that day. After all, once you die, insulting people without them hearing you could only entertain you for so long, as long as you're not a total ass. Plus, the fun of insulting Naru and Motoko without getting blasted into the sky wore off a while ago.

After dinner, everyone returned to their rooms and the quiet gloom of Hinata Dorm was back. Keitaro floated around in a bored way. What was it that kept him bound to this world? How long would he have to stay here? He once thought that the promise girl was what bound him to this world, but the more he thought about it, the more that it felt wrong to him. What was it that wouldn't let him pass on?

It's not like he was absolutely bound to Hinata Inn. He could go anywhere he wanted. He often saw other ghosts, quite a few actually. He talked with them every now and then, but it only ended up depressing him more, since they always talked about death or something, which only reminded him of his troubles and how he was slowly becoming like them.

As the night settled, and the sky darkened, Keitaro once again sighed and floated throughout Hinata Dorm.

That's when he heard a loud crashing sound and then a screech.

- - - - - - -

A dark figure stood alone on top of the building. Suddenly, a bleeping sound was heard and the figure immediately responded. "So you're finally here eh?" and the figure was gone.

- - - - - -

A sudden small rip in the sky appeared. A strange monster like _thing_ flew out and landed out in the front yard of the Hinata Inn. The strange monster had a white mask that resembled a soul, and had a monstrous body. This monster was huge, over 15 feet tall.

Yes, this creature is a hollow.

- - - - -

Keitaro floated through the front door of the Hinata Dorm to see the hollow.

"What the hell is that?" He said, slowly backing away. The hollow screeched, the strange sound echoing all around. The sound was deep, and had a strange torture sound to it, adding a ghostly quality. Somehow, Keitaro sensed that he was the only one that heard the figure. "What are you?" He shouted before backing away back into the dorm. Keitaro didn't know how he knew, he just felt as if this being was dangerous. He tried to go back to the safety of the inn.

He was too late. The figure reached out and grabbed him, bringing him close to his mask. The thing spoke in a deep, monstrous voice. It sounded strangely evil but had a little human tone in it as well.

"I shall devour you!" screeched the hollow as he brought Keitaro's ghost to his mask. Then the hollow opened his mouth through the mask. Keitaro screamed as he came closer to the hollow.

_No! What's going to happen? I don't want to die…again_ Keitaro thought desperately as he plunged downward. _I still have to tell her…that…_

Keitaro closed his eyes, expecting his life as a ghost to be over as well. When he opened his eyes he found himself still alive and well on the ground. A figure stood in front of him, clothed in a black kimono. Attached to his belt was a katana, similar to Motoko's but only a bit longer.

"W-w-who are you?" Keitaro managed to whisper. He couldn't get a good look at the person's face, since it was dark.

The figure refused to answer, only drawing out her blade and getting into a position. The hollow screeched and raised its gigantic fist, bringing it down on the earth with massive strength.

The person in the black kimono dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the enormous fist. The fist made contact with the ground, making the earth shake violently and created a huge crater in the middle of the street. The hollow attempted to raise his fist and strike again but he was too slow.

The person didn't waste any time slicing her blade down on the arm. Keitaro expected the blade to break or at least fly out of the person's hands, but instead, the sword sliced straight through the arm, slicing it off just below the elbow. The figure screeched and another rip in the air opened up, similar to the one that it came out of, and the hollow jumped through, still screaming.

The figure cleaned off the blade and sheathed, turning around to face Keitaro.

"W-who are you?" Keitaro shouted, not quite sure whether he should run.

"You there, soul, do you know where Karakura town is?"

"What?" Keitaro replied in confusion.

"I was supposed to be at Karakura town, but I ended up here because of that hollow just then. Where is Karakura town?"

"Karakura town? Y-yeah it's to the west of here…" Keitaro replied. Why was this person asking that?

"I see. Thank you. I still have to wait for that hollow to return, so I guess I'll just…" She drew her blade and aimed it at Keitaro.

"No! Stop! I don't want to die!" Keitaro cowered in fear. The blade came down on Keitaro and his eyes close, expecting the worse. He knew he was dead again this time.

However when Keitaro opened his eyes, he saw that the bottom of the grip of the sword was on his forehead, not the blade.

"Don't worry. I'm sending you to Soul Society, a place of peace. You will not die. Rest in peace now, soul." The person said. There was a sudden light and the entire area was illuminated in blue light. Keitaro could see the person's face for the first time.

The person was definitely a woman. She had a feminine face, large eyes, and dark hair that reached to the base of her neck. Her dark hair was pulled away from her face except for a few locks of hair that was in the middle.

The light continued to glow, and for the first time, the woman seemed to lose her composure, and started to strain a little bit.

"What? This guy is fighting against my Soul Burial? Does he regret something so much that he refuses to be sent to Soul Society?" The women whispered to herself, her face in clear frustration.

Keitaro felt a strange sensation within himself. At first it was relaxing, and then suddenly, he felt as if something strong inside of him tried to escape and something else tried to stop it from leaving. It was starting to feel uncomfortable and then it felt downright painful.

He gasped in pain and his face was similar to that of one who was tortured. The pain continued to increase as if something was violently tearing him apart inside. He started screaming as the pain multiplied.

The women also seemed to struggle. Her brow was furrowed in concentration, and her hands were shaking. She suddenly gasped and retracted her sword, the blue light disappearing. Keitaro collapsed, gasping for air.

"This guy… who is he? There's something that he needs to do so bad, that he resisted my Soul Burial?" She looked down at her sword and then returned her gaze towards Keitaro, keeping quiet.

"Are you alright?" She finally said and knelt by Keitaro.

Keitaro gasped and managed to say, "W-what the hell… was that?"

"I'm not sure. This has never happened before. From what I could tell, you have something that you wanted to do so much, that your soul somehow overpowered my zanpaku-to."

"What? Za..Zan..what?" Keitaro said in confusion; most of the pain was gone by now.

"I guess I will start explaining everything until I figure out what's going on. What's your name, soul?"

"M-my name?" Keitaro replied; he thought the woman would introduce herself first, before asking for his name. "My name is Keitaro Urashima."

"Very well. My name is Kuchiki Rukia. I am a shinigami." The woman stood up and Keitaro could see how short the woman was. _She was really short… wait, did she say she was a shinigami?_ Keitaro thought, wondering how his mind would wander to people's heights after something like this happened.

"S-SHINIGAMI? What the hell are you talking about?" Keitaro said.

"Hmph, very well, I shall start from the beginning." Rukia said as she sat down and indicated that he should as well. Keitaro complied and sat down.

- - - -

"Ok, so you're a shinigami?"

"Correct"

"And you're supposed to kill these bad souls are called Hollows, and you're also supposed to send souls that can't pass on to a place like Soul Society like me?"

"Correct. Any questions?"

"Yeah… what's with those terrible bunny drawings?" Keitaro asked, pointing at Rukia's drawing of a bunny.

KA-POW! Rukia had punched him in the face. "That's not the point. Do you believe me?"

"Not really. But then again, it doesn't really matter if I'm dead though." Keitaro said, smiling and rubbing the back of his head.

"Hmph" Rukia turned her head. Keitaro actually began to chuckle a little.

"So, what are you supposed to do now?" Keitaro asked, trying to strike up a conversation with this so-called "Shinigami".

"My original area was in a town called Karakura, but the Shinigami that was to cover this area, wasn't able to be here at this time of night, so Soul Society ordered me to take over for him for about a hour until he returns. I will have to stay here until he comes back." Rukia said, standing up again.

Keitaro stood up as well, "Then why…" He stopped as he heard that same screech.

A rip was opened up in the air near the Shinigami and the same hollow jumped through, with its arm fully healed. The hollow screeched that same sound again. Rukia immediately had her sword drawn and went into position.

"Get back" Rukia shouted, while facing the hollow.

Keitaro quickly backed away; he knew he should have run, but he was curious about how a "shinigami" fought.

The hollow rushed her raising both its arms and crashed them onto the spot Rukia was standing on.

It was too slow, and Rukia had already jumped up, avoiding the hit, and raised her zanpaku-to. She made a battle cry, and descended down, bringing her sword down.

But the hollow still had a few tricks. The Hollow bent down and suddenly a tentacle appeared out of the hollow's arm and protected the hollow.

Rukia's blade swung down and hit the tentacle. She took advantage of it and used it to place her foot and spring off, raising her sword once again. She struck her blade down on the hollow. She missed and the hollow dodged backward.

Rukia cursed and then brought her blade up again, this time opting to strike from the bottom in a diagonal slash. The hollow blocked it with its arm, but that in turn cut off his arm.

The hollow screeched that same strange sound and attempted to flee.

"Like I'll let you get away!" Rukia shouted and jumped after the hollow. Rukia was much faster, and was directly in front of the hollow's mask. The hollow screeched and opened its mouth rearing its fists back.

Rukia pulled her blade back and then thrusted forward in a stab. The sword pierced through the mask up to about half of the blade. The hollow screeched again one last time before shimmering and disappeared, with the body scattering into a million bits. Rukia landed gracefully, sheathing her blade as she landed.

Rukia closed her eyes and turn toward Keitaro, "You can come out now."

Keitaro slowly stood up and walked toward Rukia. "T-t-that was cool!" Keitaro stammered.

Rukia smiled, the first time Keitaro had seen her smile. "That was nothing. He wasn't that powerful of a Hollow." Suddenly her expression turned more serious "But I still don't know what to do with you. I can't send you back to Soul Society, but I can't just leave you here."

"You say that the only reason that I'm stuck here is because I have something I needed to do?"

"Yes."

"Well I think I know what that is. Can you wait here for a while please?"

"That's fine for me. Take your time." Rukia said and sat down on the nearby bench. Keitaro thanked her and immediately started running to the first place that came to his mind.

- - - - -

Tokyo University 

"Heh, I'm finally here. After failing 3 times and also" Keitaro chuckled some more "dying, I'm finally here. It's too bad I couldn't come here with Naru though or that promise girl, but it's still great to have a chance to be here even after I die." Keitaro smiled. He stood in front of the enormous main building and pondered over many things. _Hehe, death really can make me feel thoughtful for once_ Keitaro thought and looked at Tokyo University for the last time before turning around. He knew it would probably be his last time there. He started floating back towards the Hinata Inn.

"Now I know what I need to do." Keitaro whispered to himself.

- - - - -

Keitaro walked back inside the Hinata Inn in a strange ghostly sort of way. Rukia was right were he last saw her, sitting on the bench, with her eyes closed in deep thought. She didn't give any acknowledgement that Keitaro was there except for a quick nod. Keitaro nodded back and entered the Hinata Inn.

He knew exactly where he wanted to go. He could have walked there with his eyes closed. Keitaro ended up standing in front of Naru's room and took a deep breath and floated through the door, half expecting Naru to punch him. He laughed at himself for this; He was still afraid of Naru after all of this time.

Naru was sleeping on her futon messily. Her room was dirty and trash littered the entire room. Keitaro couldn't help but feel responsible; Naru seemed to have given up on life after Keitaro had died.

Keitaro knelt down next to her and smiled again.

"Ha, if you could see or hear me right now, you'd probably get pissed at me. I'm trying to act all cool and movie-like" Keitaro laughed. "Well Naru, who'd have thought that the reason I was stuck in this life was because of you? Well actually, pretty much anybody will believe that since all that I've done. If it weren't for that hollow, I wouldn't have known how to pass on. Right before I thought I was going to die, I realize the reason that I couldn't pass on was because of you. My whole life flashed before my eyes in that moment, just like the moment I died and I realized something, that you were the best part of my life."

"Well I don't really know what to say, Naru, you can't really hear me. So I'll just say it Naru. I love you. I've always had. I've always felt happy when you were around, even if you were blasting me off to the sky. Thank you for everything. Thank you for making the last year of my life wonderful. I've spent nearly 15 years of my life as a loser trying to achieve a dream that I won't ever be able to achieve. You made my life actually happy for the first time. I might never have been able to meet that promise girl, but you'll always be my loved one. Please don't hold your life back because of me, that'll just get me angry with myself. Get into Toudai for me and fulfill the promise I couldn't keep. So thank you Naru, for everything and sorry that I'm leaving you like this, but it's time to go. So here's the goodbye I never said. Goodbye Naru, I love you." Keitaro bent down and kissed Naru on her forehead. He didn't feel anything. He paused before he slowly stood back up and walked to the door taking slow long steps.

He wanted to cry. He wanted to turn around and kiss Naru over and over. But he used every last bit of his willpower and kept on turning until he heard something.

"Keitaro…love you too…" Naru mumbled in her sleep and turned over. Keitaro stopped. He just stood there for several seconds before leaving the door, with a huge smile on his face.

- - - -

Back outside, Rukia was still sitting on the bench. Keitaro walked up slowly. Rukia, sensing something, stood back up and nodded.

"Are you ready?" was all she said.

"Yeah" was Keitaro's reply.

"Alright then. Get ready." Rukia pulled out her zanpaku-to and brought the bottom of the sword on Keitaro's forehead. Rukia smiled and told Keitaro "Don't have any worries when you go into Soul Society. It'll just hurt more. You don't have to worry about anything again, Keitaro Urashima."

"Yeah, thanks for everything Kuchiki Rukia." Keitaro said, and finally felt at peace for the first time since he died. He looked at the Hinata Inn for the last time and caught a sight of the sandbox where he made the promise.

_I wonder-_ Keitaro thought just before his body sunk into the blue light.

Rukia closed her eyes and sheathed her sword, before disappearing in the night.

Keitaro opened his eyes as if he had just woken up from a dream. There was a blue sky in front of him.

Is this Soul Society? 

Keitaro stood up and heard something.

"Welcome to Rukongai."

End of Chapter 1

Please review and give me your opinions! After reading a few good (and bad) crossovers, I decided to try my hand at one, so I'll just see how well I do.

Any advice, suggestions, comments, flames are welcome. Please please review?

I thought that this was a little rushed, so if anyone else thought so, please tell me now. And yes, Keitaro will become a shinigami. As well as another Love Hina character (Take a guess).

I will try to keep this more to the Bleach storyline, because making it more of a Love Hina story would…be boring and repetitive and mixing the storylines was… too hard, time and effort consuming.

Please don't mind Rukia being there to save Keitaro. I thought of having another shinigami save him, so as to not interfere with the bleach storyline, but I decided to come up with a half-assed excuse. Don't mind it too much. Yes Kurosaki Ichigo will appear later. And not as in one of those weird crossovers where Keitaro somehow HAPPENS to encounter some character from another anime and they become INSTANT friends and have a frenzy with pairings. I'm trying for a more of an adventure edge than a romantic one, unless enough people review and want otherwise. I'll also try my best keep it as realistic as possible anime-wise.


	2. Chapter 2

**Keitaro, The Shinigami**

A/N Thanks for those who reviewed my last chapter. Please enjoy my latest chapter.

I've turned Karakura town into a section of Tokyo near Hinata, another section of Tokyo, just so I can get a connection between the characters of Love Hina and Bleach, so I wouldn't have to do something like "Keitaro randomly encounters Ichigo and become instant friends, and have a super mad pairing-crazy fest."

I'm basing this on the Japanese manga of both Bleach and Love Hina, not the English versions, so there will be a lot of stuff most of you might not be familiar with, sorry guys.

Another thing, I will be leaving out several things in Bleach, just so I can hurry up and get to the good action parts. I will mostly be describing the Love Hina character's side, and as for the missing parts (Such as how Ichigo became a Shinigami, Inoue and Chad's fight with the hollow, Kon etc.) will be the same as in Bleach, unless I redescribed the event myself. So in order for you to get this story, you will need to either read or watch the Bleach manga/anime. If not… you'll be very very confused.

Anyways… now let's see what's going on with Motoko!

Disclaimer: For the last time its NOT MINE! I'm too stupid too make up Bleach or Love Hina!

Last chapter, Keitaro was sent to Rukongai! Will we learn what'll happen to him? Nope, we'll be exploring the tenant's side this time. Now let's begin.

**Chapter 2** **– Death and the Swordswoman; A Promise and a Zanpakuto**

The sound of an alarm clock sounded, and an annoying bleeping sound echoed throughout the room. The sound of an alarm clock was one of the most hated sounds in the morning, cutting through the blissful rest known as sleep, and the day's troublesome tasks would begin.

The current inhabitant of the room stirred in her bed and grumbled on. The girl slowly climbed out of the futon and grumbled something not clear. She stretched and yawned before resting on her legs, which were bent beneath her. After clearing the cobwebs of sleep from her mind, she sat in a cross-legged and went into a meditative stance.

This woman was of course Motoko Aoyama, Hinata Dorm's swordswoman in residence and she was awake for her everyday training. Most of the dorm thought that she used some ancient samurai technique to wake up everday, but it turns out, she used an alarm clock just like any normal person. Except that she would always had to buy a new alarm clock every time she slammed on the snooze button. Motoko was freakishly strong as a woman with her samurai training.

Motoko finished meditating and looked at the clock.

5:00 AM

School would start at 8, which gave her 3 hours for training, bathing, and eating breakfast. She stood up and reached for her wooden training sword as well as her training clothes. After stripping her sleeping clothes, she examined her body in the mirror that she had in her room, which was strange seeing as she wasn't a woman to spend her time in front of a mirror every morning.

She examined her body, which cause most men to gawk at her and most women to stare jealously. After checking her chest wrappings, Motoko sighed and donned her hakama and gi, before slipping out of her room.

Her wooden training sword was in her hand, and her eyes still seemed tired but her mind was fully awake. She reached her usual training spot, the roof, and swung her sword for nearly an hour before practicing various swings. After practicing for an hour and thirty minutes, Motoko went back to her room, and dropped off her sword. Finally, Motoko walked into the hot springs to wash the sweat off.

- - - - -

The rest of the tenants were already sitting down at the breakfast table as Motoko walked in wearing her school uniform. As usual, the table was quiet with an air of depression around. Motoko sat down with her usual calm face. As the last tenant arrived, Shinobu finished serving breakfast and sat down as well. The tenants began eating.

The table was so silent that even Motoko felt uncomfortable, even though she was the one that never talked at meals.

Shinobu ate slowly, lowering her head so she wouldn't have too meet any gazes. Naru also ate in a way that seemed like she had no soul, like every morning, but Motoko felt something different about her, like something had happened during the night.

_Speaking of last night…_ Motoko thought _I sensed battle was going on, but I didn't feel any ki signatures, nor heard any sounds of battle. I didn't see anything strange but I could have sworn that there was some sort of battle going on. Well, no use thinking about this now._ Motoko banished her thoughts before continuing to eat breakfast.

Kitsune wasn't at the table, and hadn't been recently. _Hangover as usual_ Motoko thought. That left Su who Motoko hadn't seen recently. After Keitaro, who was like a brother to her, died, Su stayed locked up in her room and hadn't been sleeping in Motoko's room for a while now. _Thankfully, she still never misses a meal_ Motoko smiled slightly at this, glad that Su still had one characteristic left.

Motoko was also affected by Keitaro's death, though she didn't show it as much as the others did because of her training. Still, she thought that the other tenants would be over his death by now. Apparently, the tenants were not that truthful over their feelings for the former landlord.

Then again, she might not have been truthful about her feelings either.

Motoko finished and thanked Shinobu for the food, before bringing her plate to the sink. She walked up to her room to prepare for school, which was located in Karakura.

Hinata and Karakura were different sections of Tokyo that were located next to each other. They were named after nearby subway stops and had their own special traits. Hinata was well known for its historical look, which seemed more traditional and less modern than the rest of Tokyo. Karakura was a more modern area.

Sadly, Hinata's only high school had been closed down for more than a year so, Motoko had no choice but to go to the nearest school, which was located near the unofficial border between Hinata and Karakura.

After a short walk to the bus stop, Motoko got on and sat down on a seat near the window, watching as the city past by her window, silently waiting until she would reach her school.

- - - - -

"Yo, Motoko-chan, how're you doing?" A figure called out to Motoko, who was sitting quietly at her desk near the window of her classroom.

Motoko looked up and greeted back, "Fine. How are you doing, Tatsuki-chan?"

Ariwa Tatsuki was one of Motoko's best friends, as well as her classmate. Like Motoko, she was also a fellow martial artist, though preferring to use her fists rather than a sword. They had sparred on numerous occasions; usual fighting on equal terms, even though Motoko refrained from using any Shinmeiryuu techniques.

The kendo swordswoman smiled slightly before standing up and walking over to Tatsuki's desk to chat. Along with her, was another one of Tatsuki's friends. Inoue Orihime

Now Inoue Orihime was a huge question mark to Motoko. Orihime was always so cheerful and, somewhat…ok not somewhat but really weird, even for the kendo girl.

"Good morning, Orihime-san." Motoko bowed slightly.

"Ah! Good morning, Motoko-chan." Inoue smiled and waved cheerfully. Motoko just nodded and gave off something that was similar to a grunt. She wasn't exactly too fond of the orange haired cheerful girl who always got in the way of her patented "PERVERT PUNISHMENT" by saying violence wasn't the answer.

She was right. One glimpse of Orihime's breasts was enough to knock out any pervert. Even Motoko was secretly jealous of her assets.

On that note, Motoko hadn't done any pervert punishing for while now since Keitaro…

"Oh, Motoko, I haven't seen you at the kendo club recently. Something wrong?" Tatsuki asked, breaking Motoko's current thoughts.

"Umm… yeah, been busy with stuff." Motoko said, turning her head away. While she refused to admit it to anyone, Keitaro's death had affected her a lot. No matter what she said to everyone, she couldn't lie to herself about what she felt.

She loved him. Or had loved him.

_If I had been there, I could have protected him…I could have stopped this…_Motoko would think nearly every day. Nearly every time she was meditating, that thought would always push to the top of her mind, no matter how much she tried to get rid of the thought.

Her thought process was cut short as the teacher entered the classroom, and Motoko walked back to her seat and sat down.

- - - - - -

The bell rang and the period ended, signaling a 15-minute break. Some stayed in their seats, chatting, while others walked off into the hall. Tatsuki and Orihime walked off to go to the vending machines, and somehow ended up dragging Motoko along with them.

"So what did you bring for lunch today Tatsuki-chan?" Orihime asked, while walking along with them.

"Me? Just a normal bento. Nothing special. You?" Tatsuki replied.

"Hai! I brought a jelly and leek sandwich on onion bread! Yum!" Orihime began to start salivating just at the thought of it. Tatsuki looked sick and Motoko sweat dropped. Suddenly someone walked in and bumped into Orihime, who fell to the floor at the sudden contact.

"Huh? Oh it's just you."

"OI! ICHIGO! You knocked into her and that's all you can say? Why don't you apologize?" Tatsuki immediately went to her friend's aid.

"KUROSAKI ICHIGO! APOLOGIZE NOW!" Motoko commanded, her eyes were in the "Listen or Die" mode. Even if she stopped punishing perverts, she still distrusted most males.

Kurosaki Ichigo(A.K.A Strawberry) was a 15 year old teenager that was also their classmate. He had a strange orange hair, and was rumored to be some gangster in the Yakuza. He was a legend around the many gangsters in Karakura, mainly for his trademark orange hair and strong fighting skills.

But he paled at the fury of a woman.

A gigantic sweat drop appeared on his head before saying "Eh…Right Tatsuki-chan, Motoko-chan. Sorry, Inoue." He stretched out his hand to the woman sprawled on the ground, offering her some support.

Inoue looked at his face once. Than she started rambling something incoherent before jumping straight up, hitting Ichigo's forehead and knocking him back.

She started rambling about something that sounded like "Kacurdurgjhgrzstnami" before running off somewhere.

Ichigo stood back up with a massive bump on his head, with a gigantic mysterious question mark over his head.

"What was that about?"

"He, maybe something to do with your scary eyes." Tatsuki teased.

"Or…" Motoko was right behind him "What did you do to Orihime to make her like that?" And somehow, a fiery aura appeared around her.

"N-n-n-n-nothing! Nothing at all, Motoko!" Ichigo quickly said, while backing away from Motoko. Tatsuki just laughed at him. She and Ichigo were childhood friends.

"By the way, why weren't you at class today?"

"Ah that. I'll tell you about it later." Ichigo said before walking off toward the classroom. Tatsuki and Motoko exchanged glances before following him back to the classroom.

------------

"Hime-chan!" A red haired thing suddenly leapt at Orihime "Cute as ever!" the figure screamed as it rubbed itself against Inoue, who seemed to blank out either in confusion or embarrassment.

"What the hell are you doing, you damn lesbian!" Tatsuki shouted before she whacked the red-haired figure that turned out to be…a girl.

"Damn you! How dare you get in the way of my Hime-chan?!" The redhead named Chizuru retorted, "I will one day beat you and rescue my Hime-chan!" She screamed and ran at Orihime again. This time Motoko blocked her.

"Damn perverted woman…are you shameless?" Motoko muttered angrily. Perverted women pissed her off the most of all things.

"Yep!" Chizuru replied "Why? Am I too naughty, Mo-chan?" And she proceeded to grope Motoko's…chest.

Motoko's face turned red. Amazingly red. In fact, it made normal red look like blue in comparison.

"Oh? Why aren't you stopping me? Are you enjoying this?" Chizuru smirked in a seductive way while moving her hands lower down Motoko's body. Motoko's face color was now as bright as the sun.

That's when Keigo, the class pervert, walked in. And the moment he saw Motoko's…. predicament he fell to the floor with a look of awe on his face. Then he stood back up in a flash quickly snapping pictures with a camera he pulled out of nowhere, spit dribbling out of his mouth. He said one thing "Oh, My prayers have been answered!"

Motoko's embarrassment shot up even more, and she forcibly pushed Chizuru off, sending her into a wall and leaving a nice big Chizuru-shaped hole, before forming a fist to punch Keigo. The punch went straight through Keigo's camera and sent him flying to form a Keigo-shaped hole in the wall next to the Chizuru hole.

"I-I regret nothing!" Keigo declared before passing out, a bit of blood oozing out of his nose.

Motoko fumed before returning to her seat, refusing to meet anyone's face. The teacher finally walked in and ignored the two holes in the wall shaped like her students.

"Kurosaki Ichigo, you were missing this morning. Where did you go?" The teacher asked.

"Umm…a big truck ran into my house?" Ichigo replied cautiously, realizing how stupid it sounded.

"…. ok…" The teacher replied unsurely. Suddenly someone knocked on the door and entered.

"GAH! YOU! W-W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!" Ichigo screamed out randomly, pointing at the figure.

"Do you know her?" Chad asked. Chad was Ichigo's friend and was also rumored to be a gangster. He was a very tall and muscular who looked to be Mexican. And he gave off a very scary appearance. Very.

"No, I don't believe we've ever met. My name is Kuchiki Rukia, and I'll be sitting next to you from today onward!" the girl said with a huge smile on her face before extending her hand to Ichigo, who looked at the hand and fainted.

"Oh my." She said before sitting down, trying to cover up the words written on her hand.

- - - -

"Mo-chan!!!" Both Chizuru and Keigo jumped and screamed at the same time, both hitting each other. Chizuru, who was still obsessed with Inoue, now decided that Motoko was her new toy. Keigo however, had been trying to get Motoko ever since they met a year ago.

After they picked themselves off the ground, they both started to try to flirt with Motoko, who just ignored them.

Nearly every guy in the school had hit on Motoko since she was a rather beautiful girl, not that she knew it anyway. Despite her attitude against males, they just kept on coming. The only boys in her class that didn't hit on her were Ichigo, who always seemed pissed, and Chad, who was always quiet. Oh and then there was that boy in glasses that she didn't remember and was always brooding over something.

Inoue walked in, and to Motoko's relief, Chizuru left her alone to go grope Inoue, only to be kicked away by Tatsuki.

It had been about 2 weeks since Rukia came to the class and she had been accepted to the class rather quickly. Motoko would hang out with her often and she had quite a lot of fun. But, for some reason, she was always with Ichigo.

It's not like Motoko hated Ichigo. In fact, they had hung out every now and then, but only with Tatsuki, who with friends with both of them.

"Morning, class." The teacher walked in and everybody stopped talking.

- - - - - -

The roar of a hollow sounded and swung its fist down upon the earth, creating a large crater in the ground. People everywhere started screaming and running around everywhere. The massive hollow screeched once more before moving toward a soul that was trying to run away.

"Your soul is mine!" The hollow roared in a dramatic movie-like way. He reached out to grab the soul before…

A massive blade came through the air and cut the hollow's arm off. The hollow roared but the figure that wielded the massive blade didn't stop. He jumped up and brought the blade upon the hollow's mask, effectively slicing it in half.

"Damn, this is so annoying!" the figure put down his sword as the hollow disappeared. The figure of course was, Kurosaki Ichigo.

He had obtained Shinigami powers from Kuchiki Rukia in order to save his family, and from that day forth, he and Rukia worked together to vanquish hollows, since Rukia lost her Shinigami powers to help Ichigo.

"You shouldn't be complaining, Ichigo. Let's go back now." Rukia appeared beside him.

"Damn, it's dark already. How the hell am I going to finish my homework?"

"Well that's…" Rukia said before the ringing of her cell phone cut her off. "Ichigo! Another hollow! Let's go now!" She took off in a direction and Ichigo sighed and grabbed his massive zanpaku-to.

"Damn, this is troublesome."

- - - - - -

"Wai! Tatsuki-chan's mom's beef stew! Its' the best!" Inoue cried out.

Tatsuki and Motoko had been working together on a joint project when Tatsuki's mom had told them to deliver Inoue some beef stew. And that's how Motoko, Tatsuki, and Inoue ended up having a party.

Inoue lived by herself and ate really…really strange things. In fact, when Tatsuki and Motoko came in she was preparing to eat a… bean, onion, and jam stew.

Motoko nearly threw up when she saw the stew.

The three girls had been chatting for quite a while when suddenly; Inoue's favorite doll fell from the mantle. It wasn't just some normal doll; it was a gift to Inoue from her deceased brother. Inoue stood up to pick the doll up when something invisible grabbed her. Inoue was dragged down to the floor screaming.

- - - - -

"Damn!" Ichigo muttered as he ran to Inoue's house "I won't make it in time!"

- - - - -

Tatsuki had been thrown against the wall, while Motoko was panting heavily, leaning on her sword. She had drawn it in an attempt to free Inoue, but whatever that invisible thing was, she couldn't cut it.

"Damnit!" Motoko yelled and stood up again, only to be kicked back to the wall and get knocked out.

- - - - -

Ichigo arrived just in time to see Motoko kicked back. Then he saw a hollow with blue hair grabbing onto Inoue's leg, attempting the drag her somewhere. Ichigo drew his blade just as Rukia arrived.

"Stop! Ichigo!" But he didn't listen. He yelled and attempted to strike the hollow, but it just swiped him with his arm and whacked him away.

"K-k-kurosaki-kun?" Inoue muttered before she passed out. Motoko saw someone looking like Ichigo battling a strange monster before she too passed out.

20 minutes later

"Take care, Orihime." The hollow said with his mask taken off, and stabbed himself with Ichigo's zanpaku-to.

Ichigo battled with the hollow, which was rather powerful, for a long time. He ended up cutting off the hollow's mask to reveal that all hollows were once human and that this hollow was Orihime's brother.

After Inoue woke up and said several things that were quite touching and then her brother regained control over himself. Then he grabbed Ichigo's zanpaku-to and killed himself. Inoue was once again, unconscious.

"Damn, that was hard." Ichigo fell back to the floor and Rukia immediately went over to him.

"You did well, Ichigo."

The next morning….

"What happened to your house?"

"A monk with a rocket launcher tried to kill me!"

"NO WAY!"

"It's true! Right Tatsuki-chan? Motoko-chan?" Inoue was busy explaining how her house had been destroyed.

"Yep."

"I was there. It's true."

"No way! If Motoko-chan says so, then it must be true!"

Ichigo, who was listening, sweat dropped before turning to Rukia.

"What the hell? A monk?"

"I used a memory replacer on them. It was rather low-quality, so…"

"But who would believe that crap?"

"Shut up! At least they don't know that you're a Shinigami!" And Rukia and Ichigo argued for the rest of the day.

- - - - - - - - **Several Weeks Later** - - - - - - - - - - -

"My name is Ishida Uryu, I'm a Quincy, and I hate Shinigamis. Therefore I hate you, Kurosaki Ichigo." Ishida Uryu declared, aiming his arrow at Ichigo, who was frozen in place. Ichigo had first met the Quincy when a hollow was attacking.

Ichigo was about to defeat the hollow, just when several arrows had been sent its way, by Ishida.

Quincy were humans that gained power to see and defeat hollows as Rukia explained it. The Shinigami had long since wiped them out, but there had been a few survivors. And there before Ichigo, stood the Last Quincy.

"I will prove it to you, that this world needs no Shinigami. With the power of the Quincy, I will protect everyone." Ishida said dramatically, and pulled out a disc and broke it, leaving its remnants to scatter in the air.

"Bastard! What the hell did you do?" Ichigo yelled and raised his sword higher.

"Nothing. I just broke a disc that will attract hollows from everywhere. I will prove to you that the Shinigami are not needed. The one who defeats the most hollows will be the victor."

"Damn you! If you wanted to prove who's stronger, than you shouldn't be putting people's lives on the line! You're involving lives for your own damn personal vendettas! I don't care what happened to the Shinigami and Quincy, but if you want to settle this, then fight me! Don't involve innocent people!" Ichigo angrily yelled "Stop it now!"

Ishida just laughed. "Once this starts, I cannot stop it. But don't worry; I won't allow anyone in this town come to harm. Now shouldn't you be somewhere? Surely you know how hollows target humans with high spirit power?"

"DAMN! Karin! Yuzu!" Ichigo cursed and sped off into a direction to his family.

"Your family isn't the only one with high spirit energy. But don't worry, Ichigo. I will show you the true power of the Quincy." And with that, Ishida pulled the string on his spirit bow and aimed carefully at the first three hollows that appeared.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"What is that?" Inoue asked herself, pointing at the strange creature on the school building, that apparently, Tatsuki couldn't see. They had been walking back from karate training when the strange thing appeared, that no one seemed to be able to see.

That's when the monster jumped from the building and attacked them.

- - - - - - -- - - - - - -- - - -

"Chad? Are you coming?" One of Chad's friends called out. Chad turned towards him and said, "Yeah, wait a sec." And he gave one last look around and ran after his friends.

He didn't see the large hollow observing him on top of a building.

- - - - - - -- - - - - - - - -

"Damn that Ishida! I won't forgive him for this!" Ichigo muttered to himself. He ran around in his Shinigami form, cutting down any hollow in his path with his zanpakuto.

----------------------------

"What's going on?" Rukia asked no one in particular while looking at her cell phone, a gift from Soul Society that allowed her to detect hollows. She was currently in Urahara Shop, a small store run by Urahara Kisuke, 2 little kids, and a massive man who wore glasses.

Urahara was a strange man, with a striped hat and had an interesting choice of clothing. He always seemed to know more than he was willing to let on, and always carried around a strange cane.

He usually had a carefree attitude, but right now, it was all serious.

"So it begins."

----------------

At Hinata House.

"Motoko! Are you coming?"

"Hai, Naru-sempai." Motoko responded and continued to walk up the stairs. She had paused when she noticed something strange in the air, something of great evil. As a Shinmeiryuu swordswoman, she was always trained to sense evil. And now, a massive evil aura seemed to be in the air.

Motoko gripped her sword tighter, which was strapped on her belt, before continuing the climb the long staircase the Hinata.

--------------

"Damn! That bait couldn't have possibly drawn this many hollows! There's too many!" Ishida muttered before firing another arrow from his bow into the face of a hollow that attempted to sneak up on him.

Ishida had been firing arrow after arrow, killing hollow after hollow, but they didn't stop coming. His hand was already starting to bleed from using the bow too much.

"I won't stop!" He aimed and let loose another arrow.

--------------

"Damn that Ishida!" Ichigo cursed, currently surrounding by several hollows, each looking menacing and dangerous. Ichigo paid no attention as he swung his sword down upon them and sliced several apart with a series of swings.

"Damn! Yuzu! Karin! I'm coming!" Ichigo yelled, before charging into a group of hollows wielding his massive sword.

Meanwhile…

Rukia had met up with Kon, who saved her from a hollow. Kon was a modified soul that Ichigo and Rukia came upon in their battles. Ichigo often used Kon to change into his Shinigami forms in an emergency. Other than that, Kon usually stayed in a lion doll's body.

Currently, he was in Ichigo's body, fighting off hollows using powerful kicks, a special ability from being a modified soul. He kicked off another hollow and landed on the ground…right under Rukia's dress.

Oh and Kon was REALLY perverted.

Rukia didn't say anything; she just stomped on Kon's face repeatedly, which was actually Ichigo's face.

Right when another hollow came to attack, Rukia charged up her remaining reiatsu and fired kidou, a Shinigami art used with reiatsu to inflict damage, similar in a way to magic.

"**Destructive Art 33: Blue Firefall" **Rukia chanted, and fired a small blast of blue energy, which impacted with a hollow, sending it back a little. Kon had recovered from Rukia's stomping and stood up, preparing to protect his "Nee-san".

"Let's go you bastards!" Kon called before charging forward, only to be blasted away by a hollow. Rukia looked around, knowing that she was outnumbered. Her Shinigami powers were taken away when she tried to save Ichigo, so she was at a major disadvantage.

Suddenly, explosions rocketed the area, and most of the hollows disappeared.

"My, my, what's going on here?" A figure said.

"You're…" Rukia said before something caught her off in a dramatic sort of movie way. Dramatic but annoying as hell.

----------

"What the hell is that thing?" Motoko cried, as she was again sent flying back by the invisible creature. Motoko had been walking back with Naru to the inn, when something appeared and knocked Naru and Motoko away, knocking Naru out cold..

Motoko had drawn her sword and used any Shinmeiryuu technique she could on the hollow, but no matter what she did, she didn't seem to be able to harm it.

Just then, Shinobu, Kitsune and Su popped out of the Inn to see what was going on.

"NO!" Motoko yelled but it was too late. The shimmer in the air moved and knocked her away into a wall. Before the rest of the tenants could scream, the hollow had grabbed Shinobu and Su with its hands and kicked Kitsune away.

Shinobu and Su were now screaming, being held up in the air by some invisible force. Kitsune was unconscious and Motoko was struggling to stand up, when she heard the thing's voice for the first time.

"Hehehe, I always love to devour the souls of young ladies like you two. This will be a nice treat." The thing said.

"You will not harm them!" Motoko yelled and charged at the hollow.

"**Zan Ga Ken**!" Motoko yelled, and sliced her sword down on the shimmer, using the Shinmeiryuu special technique. (Stone Splitting Sword)

The hollow just threw her back with its arm, sending her flying back again. But Motoko didn't give up, and used the force of the landing to jump back up again, gathering more Ki to her sword and unleashing upon the evil ghost in a massive wave.

The ki wave simply passed straight through the shimmer. Motoko didn't seem to notice as she brought her sword back down on the hollow, but the blade went through the air as if there was nothing there.

"It's useless! Useless!" The hollow mocked. Motoko heard it but ignored it, bringing her sword up and swung again and again, but the sword hit nothing.

The hollow screeched, making goosebumps appear on Motoko's skin.

"I told you it's useless human! Why do you try so hard?" The hollow yelled and punched Motoko away, sending her back down on the ground.

Blood splurted from the many cuts on Motoko's skin. More blood began to emerge from her mouth as she struggled to stand, panting heavily.

"I WILL PROTECT THEM! **Shinmeiryuu Technique! Hyakuretsu Okazan!"** Motoko yelled and swung her blade through the shimmer in the air, with her ki surrounding her in a circle and several sakura petals falling from nowhere.

"USELESS! It's all useless!" The hollow screamed once more and punched Motoko with its giant fist, blasting her several feet back. More blood flew from Motoko's mouth and she landed on the ground with a thud.

Motoko had never been injured this badly, even against her sister or demons.

"**Zan Ku Sen!"** Motoko yelled, sending more Ki waves at the hollow, which passed through it harmlessly.

"You starting to annoy me! Let me devour these brat's souls in peace!"

"Like hell I'll let you do that!" Motoko yelled another battle cry and charged at the hollow, focusing more ki to her body and sword.

"Hmph. And here I was giving you a chance to run, woman. But no matter. I'll end this now." The hollow extended one finger, which was sharp at the tip. Motoko would have dodged but she couldn't see the hollow.

"Die, brat!" The hollow stabbed Motoko with the sharp point on its finger.

Motoko screamed as she felt something pierce her body straight through. The point pierced straight through her body and came out of her back. Blood flew in all directions, and the finger was covered with Motoko's blood.

Time seemed to slow down for Motoko as she fell to the ground, blood everywhere. She was lying in a pool of her own blood that was steadily growing larger as the wound bled more. Regret clouded Motoko's mind and tears fell from her eyes as it began to glaze over.

As more blood came out, Motoko felt less and less pain as she felt her consciousness began to fade. Her fading conscious tried to grasp at the remainder of her memories, as it slowly began to darken, trying hold onto whatever bit of life she had left.

Her life at the Shinmeiryuu dojo. Her sisters and how they saved her from the turtle demon. Coming to Hinata Dorm. Meeting with the tenants. Meeting and beating up Keitaro. Everything passed by in a flash.

Motoko's last regret passed through her mind. _I couldn't save them. I couldn't save anyone. I took a vow to protect all residents of the dormitory, but I failed. I couldn't even save Keitaro and now I can't save anyone of them!_

The last memory passed through her head. An image of a smiling cheerful Keitaro. And the image of his tombstone. She stood before it, her head lowered in guilt. She kneeled down and laid a single flower. A rose. And she swore on oath on his grave, similar to the one she swore with the Shinmeiryuu and swore when she came to Hinata All-girls Dormitory. The oath repeated itself in her dying mind once again.

_"I swear on my sword, my life, and my honor, that I will protect the innocent and the weak, incapable of defending themselves, from all harm and evil. I will give my life to serve those who cannot fight for themselves."declared a young Motoko, in front of her sister and family, who smiled at the young girl._

"_As my oath as a resident to this place, I will protect all of its residents and this land. As long as I reside here, I will not allow harm to come to this place or any of its residents._"_Motoko promised, kneeling before Granny Hina, who seemed amused by this formality. _

Motoko shuddered as she realized she broke her promise when she first hit Keitaro, even though he was a male, he was still a resident. Her final vow raced through her head, to the memory of the only male that she ever loved.

_"Keitaro, I swear upon your grave, that I will protect and take care of Hinata House and its residents in your stead. I have failed to protect you, but in your memory, I will stride to save those who were precious to you. I swear this on your memory and my honor as a swordsman…and a woman."Motoko whispered, standing in front of a grave, alone with her as she seemingly offered her swrod to the grave._

Forgive me Keitaro, I couldn't do anything. I have broken every one of my vows. Motoko thought as her vision began to fade. The hollow began laughing until suddenly it stopped. Not just the hollow but also everything stopped. Everything was frozen in place. As if time had stopped itself.

"So you wish to fulfill your promises and protect your friends eh?" A voice rang through the air. Motoko suddenly found that she felt no pain. In fact, all of the tiredness from before disappeared. She slowly stood up to see that her body was still on the ground, frozen just like everything else.

"Hmph, I can't believe it took you so long to realize your own follies. All it took was for you to almost die for you to finally awaken." The voice said again.

"Who are you? What's going on?"

"Who am I? I know you more than anything in the world, and you know me anything more than anyone in the world. Do you really not know who I am?" The voice said again. It was definitely a male voice that was neither high pitched nor low pitched.

"Stop fucking kidding! Who are you?"

"Very well. Here is a hint. I have been with you since the beginning, and without me…" a dark figure appeared in front of Motoko, "You are nothing." Motoko could see the figure for the first time, which had dark shadows covering his face and body, making him totally unrecognizable.

"What the hell does that mean?"

"I am what makes you human. I am the very representation of what separates humans from mere animals. I am your soul."

"………WHAT?"

"Ha! I knew you would say something like that. Very well, let's start from the beginning. Every human is born with a soul. When we die, the soul ascends to heaven, or Soul Society, whatever you want to call it. If we have a strong regret, we remain behind and if the soul is evil, we become that thing you were battling, called a hollow."

"And what are you?"

"Me? Why that's a ridiculous question. I am YOU!" The figure said before Motoko found herself staring at herself. The figure then reverted back to its normal dark form, shadows blocking the face and body.

"Me? STOP KIDDING!" Motoko yelled and grabbed a sword that she found lying next to her, and charged at the figure that lazily sidestepped out of the way.

"My my, trying to cut me…using me?"

"What? Stop speaking in riddles!"

"Well, you can say that I am part of your soul that's always been with you. I know you better than you know yourself, because in a way, I AM you. And that sword you're holding…" The figure pointed at the sword in Motoko's hands, which was a slightly longer version of her katana except with an long red string tied to the bottom of the blade with a piece of metal attached with the carving of a snake on it. In fact, the blade also had a carving of a snake on it, running all the way to the tip. Other than the design, the blade was a traditional Katana, with Eel skin used as the grip, a guard that was made of gold, and a sheath made with black material.

"You can sort of say that sword IS me."

"What?"

"Let me tell you know. That sword… or otherwise me, is a Zanpakuto. A Soul Slayer."

"What do you mean?"

"You sure like to say 'what' a lot huh? A Soul Slayer is the sword of a Shinigami. Shinigami send souls to heaven, or Soul Society and slays the bad spirits, called Hollows. Simple enough eh?"

"I don't understand. What are you getting at?" Motoko asked in confusion. This strange figure had a way of replying so that Motoko would ask more questions. Frustration started to build in her mind.

The figure sighed. "To put it simply, that blade is the only thing that can harm the hollow you're fighting, which is why your ki attacks or sword attacks don't work." The figure said indicating the hollow, which Motoko realized she was able to see clearly for the first time.

"I am your Zanpaku-to. I am your sword. Your shinigami powers were awakened by your friend Kurosaki Ichigo, who has a massive amount of reiatsu, or spirit pressure, which judges the power and strength of a soul or Shinigami."

"Ichigo?"

"Correct. He awakened your dormant powers, which everyone has to some extent, during a battle with a hollow that was trying to kill you and your friends Tatsuki and Inoue. The contact with the hollow and Ichigo was used to unlock your powers, and this encounter that nearly left you dead fully awoke your Shinigami powers."

"Your powers are quite strong if you train up a little more." The 'Zanpakuto' said, walking over to her body. Even when he was closer, Motoko still couldn't see his face. "Kurosaki Ichigo is also a person whose shinigami powers were also forcibly awakened. His was awakened by a shinigami, who now has no powers. I'm sure you know her; she's in your class. Kuchiki Rukia."

Motoko stood stunned. It all began to make some sort of sense, seeing as how much Rukia and Ichigo were together and how they always seemed to be hiding something.

"Even if your powers were awakened, you could not use them unless you were emotionally stressed or on the brink of death. Like now. Now that you have fully awakened your shinigami powers, you are free to wield me." The figure said pointing at the sword in Motoko's hands.

"…I…s-see…" Motoko said, still confused.

"Not you don't see. Don't forget, I'm part of you. I know when you're lying. Now is the question." The figure turned to Motoko, with his face still in shadows. "Will you protect them? Will you protect those precious to you? Will you fulfill your vows? Do you wish for power?"

Motoko paused before saying "I will. Even if I die, I'll protect them to my last breath."

The figure laughed, "Alright, I like you kid. You can use me. I will fight together with you and together… we will have the power to defend your precious people. Now rise, Motoko Aoyama."

Time began to return to normal. The hollow continued laughing until a blinding light shined and blinded him. Su and Shinobu were both unconscious. The hollow looked in wonder at the figure bathed in light.

"YOU! You're… a Shinigami?"

Motoko didn't answer, but raised her new sword at the hollow. She could see that she was wearing a black Shinigami uniform. Her sword was slightly longer than her other sword, with a snake carving going up both sides of the blade and red tassels coming from the end of the sword attached to a gold medal with another snake carving.

The Zanpakuto spirit was still watching her, but she could sense that the hollow couldn't see him.

"Rise Motoko Aoyama. Charge at your enemy and strike him down. Do not fear death. Do not fear pain. Strengthen your resolve and strike. Trust in me. Are you willing to put your lives and the lives of all of your friends in my hand?"

"Yes."

"Then go. Do not stop. Do not fear. STRIKE NOW MOTOKO AOYAMA!"

Motoko complied and started running, letting out her battle cry and raising her blade up over her head.

"IT'S USELESS GIRL!" The hollow screeched and dropped both of the girls and raised his fists, now fearing the shinigami girl.

The two figures charged at each other, both crying out. As they both neared each other, the hollow swung both of his fists at Motoko, who brought her sword down on the hollow's fists.

BAM! The whole area was illuminated in light, and the ground shook, craters forming under the pair. There was an explosion and then silence. The smoke cleared from the ground to reveal….

Motoko Aoyama, heir to the Shinmeiryuu, standing victorious over her opponent, who was cleaved in two and was fading away.

"Good job girl. You did well." The zanpakuto said quietly.

Motoko smiled "Thanks. Now can I see your face and get your name? Zanpakuto-san?"

The figure laughed before saying "That is for a later time. My name is something that will give you great power."

"And your face?"

"It'll make me look less cool."

Motoko sweat dropped before she fell to the ground, her newly formed zanpakuto still clutched in her hands. _Urashima, I have saved those who were precious to you. I'm glad I could at least fulfill my promise to your grave. _

_I can finally understand, you were not a dishonorable male. I can finally see the true Keitaro. One who would die for his loved ones, who would give his all for anyone he cared about, who would dedicate his life to fulfill his promises, no matter what it took. The one who cared deeply for everyone. Who would sacrifice his own happiness to make everyone else happy. The one would never complain no matter what misfortune came upon him, but face the world with a smile to tackle even the most hardest of challenges._

_Please watch over us. I will become strong so that once again..._

_I will promise to defend your honor._

Motoko smiled as she fell to the ground, unconscious.

"You did well Motoko." The figure said and disappeared as well. After a while, the wind started blowing, clearing off all of the dust from the battle. There was an eerie silence in the air, as if the air itself was awestruck by the show of powers.

"My my, I guess I came a bit too late." Another figure said, walking up to the sight of the battle and looking down at the unconscious Shinigami form of Motoko and her human body that was still on the ground.

"You fought well." The figure said, A massive man followed the figure and two little kids. They picked up the tenants and they slowly walked off before disappearing all together.

Haruka sat in her teahouse, calmly smoking her cigarette as if nothing had happened. "Damn, that'll take forever to repair. You're late again, as always, Urahara." Before she put up a closed sign on her teahouse door.

------Meanwhile------

"Welcome to the Shinigami Academy." A figure said to all of the gathering students.

As the person continued his speech, a certain someone was standing in the front row that had black hair and sported a pair of glasses. His face had a nerdy look and he seemed quite cheerful.

"Now I will call all of the students to come up and receive their Shinigami Academy equipment." The person finished his speech and read through the list until he arrived on a particular name.

"Keitaro Urashima"

TBC

A/N That was possible one of the longest chapters I have written EVER! I was considering splitting this into two chapters, but I wanted for Motoko to have her proper introduction into a shinigami.

Next chapter will feature Keitaro, his adventures in Rukongai, and how he joins the Gotei 13! Until then please review this chapter? Pretty please?

Oh by the way, all of the main Love Hina cast will gain some sort of Shinigami powers or powers similar to Inoue or Chad. And yes, Keitaro will be a shinigami, a rather powerful at that. But that's for the next chapter, ok?

Now, a new feature I'll implement… Now, I've seen those fics that let you vote on pairings, so I'll let you vote on something…

WHO FIGHTS WHO?

That's right, I'm not one for pairings, so I'll give a chance for people to witness any fight they want to see! Or read rather. It can be between **anyone** from both Bleach and Love Hina. Just vote, and I'll implement the battle in the fic.

For Example…

Motoko/Tsuruko Vs. Kenpachi (A fight I wanted to do…)

Anything you want. It could be between Bleach characters only or Love Hina characters only or Bleach Character vs Love Hina character, or any character you want. (But I decide the outcome… hehehe)

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I hope I didn't disappoint and if I did, please tell me what I did wrong. Please leave a review on the way out.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N Long wait, and a shortchapter that I'm not so sure is well written. So please give me any feedback and suggestions. 

I had so many problems for this chapter that I would have filled a page with my rants about the many issues I had in writing this chapter. That's the main reason for the delay. I also think that this chapter was much too rushed, without much character building or details. If that's the case, please inform me so I can improve future chapters. I'm sorry if this was not that great, but I simply had too much issues in getting this chapter out. Alright on to the story…

The long-awaited...Keitaro's adventures in Soul Society! Though in my opinion, this chapter was not that great...but I'll leave that up to you to judge.

--------

Chapter 3 – Welcome to Heaven 

Keitaro wandered the streets of his new home, gazing upon the new sights that greeted him in wonder. The workings of Soul Society were strange at best, but it was quite an interesting change from the real world.

Soul Society was set up like feudal Japan, with old-styled houses. There was nothing really modern there; everything was old-fashioned. The clothing, buildings, and even the air had a strange feeling of nostalgia.

Keitaro had expected heaven to be a bit more like those cloud-filled paradises so clearly depicted in paintings. Everything was so…Japanese…

_I wonder about the Souls who die in other countries…maybe there is a different area for them?_ Keitaro thought, dodging around a pair of young kids who had been playing on the street.

Keitaro had only arrived in Rukongai earlier that day. He was quite confused at nearly everything around here. People bustled around much like they did in normal life. In fact, it would have looked like a scene from some movie set in feudal Japan.

"Oops, sorry sir." A girl's voice said. Keitaro turned around to see a cute girl with long pale hair apologizing to a man that she just bumped into. The girl bowed quickly before running off to wherever she was going to. Keitaro shrugged before continuing his long walk.

- - - - -

Keitaro had been walking for nearly the entire day. He had yet to find a proper place to stay yet, and whenever he asked anyone, they never really told him much, only to go look for anywhere he wanted.

"Damnit… I didn't think it would be that complicated when I died…I thought it would be like paradise…" Keitaro muttered, slowly drifting off into a dream where he was bouncing around in the clouds and being surrounded by angels…

Suddenly a girl's scream pierced the air and instantly woke Keitaro up from his daydream. He started searching around franticly for the source of the voice, before he took off in a direction he thought were it came from.

He ran as fast as he could toward the scream to see a young girl being chased by a pair of men.

"Oi! Get back here bitch!" one of the men called. The girl screamed, "Help!" at Keitaro, who reacted at instinct.

He immediately leapt over, and without any questions, he threw his fist back and punched the man, who stumbled back holding his face. Before he could recover, Keitaro jumped again and punched him once again. The man who Keitaro had punched started bleeding and gasped, holding onto his face.

"You'll pay for that bastard!" the other guy said and swung at Keitaro. Keitaro, who had the slightest of training getting beat up by Motoko, ducked under the attack. The fist missed by a large margin. Keitaro grinned but his foot slipped and he fell down, throwing his feet up.

It was his luck that his foot had hit the man's… special place.

The man groaned and then collapsed to the ground. His partner, nursing a bleeding nose, helped him up and started running away.

"You'll pay for that bastard!" He screamed before fleeing. Keitaro paused for a moment. Did he really just beat up 2 guys bigger than him? He had never won in a fight before…

"T-thank you." The girl said to Keitaro and bowed. Keitaro blinked before replying "Y-yeah, no problem…"

There was a brief pause and both Keitaro and the girls blushed deeply. Keitaro racked his mind for a topic to break the uncomfortable silence and finally found something to say. "Umm… what were they after anyway?"

"Umm…well I originally wasn't from this section of Rukongai, but then I managed to move here…with some help from some of the local gangs…and well, they wanted me to pay them back…"

"What? There're gangs here? In Soul Society?"

"You didn't know?"

"Nope… No clue…"

"You must be new here." The girl said, before sitting beside Keitaro, but with a lot of space between. She turned her head to face him "I guess as thanks, I'll explain Soul Society to you."

Keitaro nodded and began listening, quite interested in what she had to say. Soul Society was actually there to maintain the balance with souls; they would die in the real world and be sent to Soul Society where they would ultimately die as well, and be sent back to the real world with no memories, a new body, and essentially a new soul, therefore having no relation with the person they used to be. Actually, the only thing from the soul that was transferred to a new body was a blank empty soul, with no relation at all to the original soul. This of course confused Keitaro, after all, he thought that once he died, he would stay dead.

The girl then explained about Rukongai and how each soul would be placed in each section of Rukongai depending on the purity or righteousness of one's souls. They would number off from 79 to 1, 1 being the best and most comfortable of Rukongai while the 79th would be the worst and most dangerous of Rukongai, usually reserved for murderers and other sinners. They were currently in 22nd Rukongai, one of the best sections for any soul sent from earth, while the anything higher than 15th Rukongai would be reserved for the residents of Soul Society; those who had been born in Soul Society and for the 4 noble houses of Soul Society and the extremely righteous souls who had not even the slightest bit of darkness in their souls.

"I see…in that case, why did you want to come to the 22nd Rukongai? Where did you originally come from?" Keitaro asked, curious about this girl.

The girl looked sad and Keitaro apologized before she finally said, "I was originally from 65th Rukongai. It was better than some but it was still a terrible place. For someone like me, I was in constant danger, and was often without food. Yes, souls still need to eat and drink in Soul Society."

"You were in 65th section? What for?"

"I…I…I betrayed my friend's trust and did something I shouldn't have while I was a ghost." The girl kept quiet, clearly uncomfortable. Keitaro silently cursed himself, mad at himself for upsetting this girl.

"By the way, since you're new here, you don't have anywhere to stay right?" the girl said shyly, a blush forming on her face. Keitaro nodded. "Well, in that case, I live alone in a residence not too far away from me…and I don't think you're a bad guy so if you want…you can…umm…stay with me…" The girl said with a giant blush on her face.

"Eh? B-b-but…I'm a guy and…well you're a girl…I think that's…" Keitaro trailed off, with a blush on his face as well.

"Oh that's not a problem here in Soul Society. Souls usually live together in the same building, and the one I live in happens to be abandoned by others…so…you know…" The girl looked away, clearly embarrased by the idea of inviting someone to live with her, even though she was dead in a sense.

"Uhhh… in that case…sure." Keitaro replied. The girl seemed to light up in happiness, truth be told, she had been quite lonely once she came to Soul Society, ignored by nearly everyone and not having any friends.

"So, what's your name?" the girl asked.

"Keitaro Urashima."

"Aisaka Sayo." The girl said, indicating herself and gave Keitaro a small smile. "Come on, let's go home."

------------------------Some time later

"Get out here you bitch!"

"Yeah, you owe us!"

"Come on! Come on! Get out of there before we burn your little house down!"

Male's voices rang throughout the area, all of them screaming for Sayo to come out. Sayo was cringing and shaking in fear, while Keitaro had been standing up tensed.

Keitaro was just ready to sleep, when suddenly several men came along, all of them bearing brightly lit torches.

"I-it's t-t-them! The gang I went to help me get here!" Sayo cried out fearfully.

"Come on out bitch! Don't make me come in there and drag you out myself!" Sayo looked ready to listen but Keitaro who shook his head no stopped her.

"You don't know what they'll do to you Sayo-chan, they might kill you." Keitaro said. He had known Sayo for about 2 weeks now, exploring Soul Society until he finally adjusted well enough to get around on his own. Though he didn't really know too much about the girl, he still considered her to be his friend.

"B-b-but!"

"Don't worry Sayo-chan. I'm sure they won't-" Keitaro said before the door was forcibly kicked open, filling the room with angry gangsters. They dragged Sayo out screaming and threw Keitaro to the floor.

"That's him! That's the bastard who protected that girl!"

"Get him!" the mob yelled and started beating him up, kicking him while he was on the ground.

Sayo screamed and struggled wildly, but her captives held her tightly. Keitaro gasped and curled up in pain until finally the kicks subsided.

"Ha, that's what you get, asshole. Burn the place to the ground!" A voice called out and the gang chorused their cheers, throwing their torches at the building.

Sayo screamed loudly but was only restrained tighter. "Keitaro!!!!"

_Why the hell is this happening to me? Just when I finally made a friend…and it's all because of me!_ Keitaro thought, refusing to blame his new friend at all _I can't believe it… Sayo said she was my friend and I let her down! I can't give up now! I won't let it be like this!_ Keitaro suddenly screamed and stood up, a strange blue light surrounding him. _I won't let this life be crap either…_

Suddenly, the flames from the torches were extinguished and the gang members turned around at the sudden new presence.

Blue light illuminated the entire place, forming a swirling tempest of air.

"W-w-what the hell is this! This reiatsu…it's like a shinigami's but…much more powerful!"

"**Let her go**." A deep voice called out. The gangsters looked to see Keitaro standing, at what seemed to be the eye of the storm, reiatsu flowing around him.

"The hell is with this reiatsu?"

"Who the fuck are you?"

"**Put her down and leave now**" Keitaro said the last word with such force that the reiatsu in the air multiplied twofold, causing the gangsters the fall back on their feet.

"**Don't make me repeat myself! Leave Now!"** This times, the group of offending men started running away in fear, yelling back their apologies, leaving Sayo back on the ground with a look of awe on her face.

"Keitaro…What just happened?"

-----------------------------------------------------

Several Weeks Later… 

"Keitaro, be careful during today's field trip! Don't forget what happened on your first day to the academy!"

"Haha, don't worry Sayo-chan, I can handle this!" Keitaro laughed. Several weeks after the incident, Sayo and Keitaro had met with a shinigami academy student, who after talking to for several hours, they both somehow decided to join the academy.

After many long rigorous reiatsu tests, their reiatsu levels were deemed high enough to join the academy immediately. The academy accepted nearly any soul, as long as they had sufficient reiatsu. Keitaro's reiatsu was more than enough to join the academy while Sayo just barely made it.

Within 2 months of arriving in Soul Society, Keitaro had been accepted into the Shinigami academy, something that had been unheard of. Normally, souls would have to stay in Soul Society for quite a while before gaining enough reiatsu, that is, if their souls had any form of spiritual power at first. Keitaro's initial reiatsu was relatively high, though nowhere near the level of a high-ranked shinigami.

Keitaro was put in the more high-level class, while Sayo had been placed in the lower-level class since her reiatsu level was only barely enough to join the academy. This was all based on reiatsu levels, and the first initial test they had on entering the academy.

His first day had been quite disastrous. He managed to strip 31 girls of their academy uniform and landed into the breasts of 18 unfortunate girls. Then he somehow landed on top of hot teacher with suspiciously large boobs leaving them in a rather…compromising position. Needless to say, he had quite an interesting first day.

And a painful one. Sayo took about 3 hours to fully bandage all the numerous bruises he had.

Now today was the first training trip that the first year higher-class students would go through. On the field trip, they were to be accompanied by the 6th year students, who would watch over them, as they would be transported into the real world to take out a few dummy hollows. The security measures had been increased in the years due to an incident in which a training trip went wrong after several Hollows had attacked a group of young students.

Now they had more shinigami on standby, ready to jump into the real world at the first sign of trouble.

Keitaro's school life had been rather dismal. He had no real friends in the academy besides Sayo, since all the female students hated the pervert and most of the male population feared the females way too much to befriend the unlucky pervert.

His academic life was a little much better. He had mastered the basic demon art spells with little difficulty at all and he always won the sparring matches in the academy, which was strange to him because he was never that much of fighter in life.

Keitaro stood at the meeting ground for the field trip for his class. His fellow students were gathered around a certain spot in the middle, where a shinigami stood, working on something. Then, out of nowhere, a strange door opened, similar to the traditional Japanese sliding doors. Slowly, it slid itself open revealing a bright light.

"You guys can go in now. Please slowly walk in and do not crowd the portal." The shinigami said. The students started whispering and one by one they slowly walked in the portal.

Keitaro paused and then entered the portal himself. The academy of course had taught him about the inter-dimensional portals and how they were made, but it was extremely complicated and rather useless as well as extremely boring. The light through the door shined brightly and Keitaro suddenly found himself on the other side of the portal to find that he was somewhere in a large forest. Due to the recent increase in construction and population in the human world, the areas where they could have their training field trips were restricted. Since then, they normally had their field trips in a secluded or abandoned area where normal souls would not get involved.

Gathered next to a large tree were the seniors that were presiding over the trip. Around them were all the first years that were on the field trip today, most of them looking excited while some seemed a little worried. The hollow dummies that they were practicing on weren't dangerous, but they could go berserk, being machines and all, and there had been isolated incidents with problems with the dummies.

"Today, you will be using your skills that you have learned in the academy to take out a dummy hollow. Each one of you will be assigned to a three man team, which will be decided by the number on the piece of paper that was given to you." The 6th year student began speaking, once all of the students had gathered before them.

Keitaro looked at his slip and saw that his number was 7. Then 6th year student went on to explain about several things and some last minute pointers involving teamwork. Keitaro ignored this and then began to look for his teammates, who by his luck, ended up being 2 girls. Girls that hated perverts.

"Excuse me, you have number 7 right? I'm on your team, my name is Keitaro Urashima, and it's a pleasure to work together." Keitaro cheerfully said, raising a hand in greeting.

"My name is Akira. Don't try anything on me…" The girl named Akira said and looked witheringly at Keitaro. Keitaro apparently had accidentally tripped on her and managed to strip off her academy uniform in front of everyone. Needless to say, she lost all trust or respect for men for the rest of her life. She seemed to be one of a more tomboyish type and looked remarkably like Motoko, except that she had shortly cut hair.

"I'm Yuki! Yoroshiku!" the other girl cheerfully declared. She had long brown hair reaching to her waist. She was a much more girlish person than Akira and had an enormous grin on her face. Yuki looked and sounded cute while seeming rather innocent.

Akira looked at him with distrust and dislike while Yuki just seemed…cheerful and happy. They soon found themselves in their assigned spot in the forest, spaced apart from the rest of the students.

Keitaro chatted with both of them for a while, hoping to warm up to them a little. Akira returned with her cold disposition, while Yuki cheerfully talked back. Keitaro found that Yuki and Akira were best friends, despite having conflicting personalities.

"Alright! Please be prepared to start, the dummy hollows will be let loose shortly!" The voice of the senior in charge rang out throughout the empty and silent forest. Keitaro and his new team tensed and prepared for it.

--------

"**_Haddou no Sanju ichi! Shakkahou!"_** Yuki's voice rang out and a small ball of red energy was shot from her hands at the fake hollow. The blast missed and the hollow crawled through the smoke from the blast. "Akira! It's coming!" Yuki called out.

"Got it!" Akira shouted and drew her training sword given to her by the academy and swung down on the training hollow that was quickly approaching her. She missed by a wide margin and the hollow sped past her. "KEITARO! You better get that or else I'll kick your ass!"

"Hai, Akira-chan!" Keitaro cried and swung his own sword at the hollow but missed. The hollow continued to move and Keitaro, fearing for his own life at Akira's hands, started chasing after the hollow, swinging his sword wildly.

"Come on! Please come back!"

"KEITARO! YOU IDIOT! I'LL KILL YOU!" Akira screamed chasing after Keitaro. Yuki only laughed while she chased after her two teammates.

Finally, after chasing after his hollow for nearly 20 minutes, Keitaro managed to kill it by accidentally tripping and dropping his sword right on the hollow, cutting it in half. Such luck for our unlucky perverted ronin…

After getting a beating from Akira for him being the reason that they were the last team to finish, they all gathered at the very place they came from and waited for their next set of instructions.

"Congratulations on succeeding. The next objective is to…" The senior never got to finish those last words. A gigantic spike from nowhere had impaled him and now he was floating over the speechless first years, his lifeblood dripping all over the ground. Behind him, was the shimmering outline of a huge hollow with blood dripping from its nearly invisible hand. And that's when all hell broke loose

-------------------------------------

"RUN!" Another senior yelled, as another hollow appeared in front of him. Just moments after the hollow brutally slaughtered the senior, the rest of the students started to panic and began fleeing in all directions. That's when another group of hollows sneaked up on them and started attacking.

Before they knew it, they had been surrounded by a group of hollows and the slaughter began. What was worst was that the hollow had managed to jam communications with Soul Society and they weren't even able to send a signal for help.

"I DON'T WANNA DIE!" A panicky first year screamed as more and more hollows arrived. Similar screams echoed through the forest, screams of pain, fear, and absolute panic.

Keitaro managed to stay in the group with Akira and Yuki, who along with several other students tried to play hero and fight back. They only got slaughtered as they tried to fight back.

"**_Shakkahou!"_** Keitaro cried and fired a blast of red energy. That was pretty much the only thing they could do, as rushing in to attack in close quarters was suicidal.

"Damnit! What can we do?" Akira cried to a cowering Yuki who despite shaking in fear had held her own by firing the basic demon art spell again and again.

3 more cries of**_ "Shakkahou"_** sounded from the three students and three blasts hit the same hollow, stopping its charge at the students. The attacks weren't effective enough to hurt any hollow, they could only slow them down.

Just then, a humanoid hollow's hands changed into whip like tentacles and flew at the group. Keitaro yelped and started to charge up his Shot of Red Fire as well as Yuki and Akira, but they were too late and the hollow's tentacles wrapped around them. Yuki and Akira were pulled back toward the hollow screaming, while Keitaro was flung to a tree hard.

Keitaro fell to the ground dazed, with an injury on his head spurting blood fast. He felt his consciousness began to fade and soon his vision faded to black as the hollow's tentacles flew at him and wrapped around him, slowly devouring his soul…

---------------------------------

"Yo, kid. How you doing?" Keitaro woke up the sound of an old man's voice. He looked around the place he was at right now. He jumped up in shock as he realized where he was.

He was standing in front of the old crumbling Hinata Inn; it still stood in its old glory, with an ethereal atmosphere and sakura petals falling from the surrounding cherry trees. He never thought he would ever see this place again.

Keitaro slowly walked to the entrance but the closer he seemed to get, the further the inn seemed to go… along with the figure of a running brown haired girl.

"_Narusegawa! Please wait!"_ Keitaro yelled and chased after the girl, but no matter what he did, he could never reach the inn. After what seemed to be hours of chasing after the inn, Naru finally turned around to see Keitaro, a look of pure annoyance and disgust on her face.

"Stupid idiot, how long are you going to chase after me until you finally catch me?" the girl said exasperatingly. Keitaro looked at her and pinched him to make sure this was real and not just a dream.

"Narusegawa! W-w-what are you doing here? What's going on and why am I here?" the brown haired girl just laughed before saying

"I'm not your friend. My name is not Narusegawa. I simply took the form as your famed promise girl because I felt you would be the most familiar with that shape and form."

"N-n-narusegawa is the promise girl?" Keitaro asked in bewilderment, his memories of the hollow attack immediately shunted aside once the mention of his promise girl came up. "H-h-how do you know that?"

"Yes she is. I have been with you since the beginning, after all, I am the part of your soul that represents your shinigami powers. And I remember everything about your life, though I do not understand you at all." The girl who looked like Narusegawa said, in a monologue business like tone. "I chose this form because I believe you trust this form the most, though I usually prefer this form…" Naru suddenly changed into a man in a business suit, currently rolling some dice in his hands.

The man had short cut black hair. He had a roughly handsome face and was looking at Keitaro with a mixture of disdain and amusement.

After a moment of silence, the man threw the dice onto the ground and muttered, "Damn" as he picked the dice up once more. Keitaro didn't even notice him at all, still too busy standing in shock at discovering his promise girl.

"Hello? You there? Can you see me?" The man waved his hand in front of Keitaro's face, who only stood there with a happy expression "Umm…Are you there, Keitaro?" A bit of spit dribbled down his mouth.

"WAKE THE HELL UP!" The man yelled pissed, and threw his dice at Keitaro hard, waking him from his stupor.

"What the hell are you doing? Are you that excited at discovering your promise girl?" The man asked exasperatedly. Keitaro could only nod, a happy smile plastered on his face spreading from cheek to cheek.

The man sighed and motioned toward the inn "Shouldn't you be worried about that right now?" Keitaro looked up to see the old building in flames, slowly burning the old inn away. Keitaro's eyes widened and he tried to run into the inn to put out the fires but no matter how much he ran, the inn never got nearer.

"Stupid. You can't enter that inn." Keitaro looked at the man, who was currently throwing his dice again "That inn represents your memories in the Hinata Inn, including your prized memory of the promise girl. This place is one of the main areas of your souls, the place that represents your memories."

"What?" Keitaro asked, clearly confused. The man sighed, "Your soul is organized into several parts, the 3 main parts being your memories, desires, and feelings. This place represents your memories, the Hinata Inn, where most of your most precious memories occurred. Your desires are represented by the place you wanted to go to the most, Tokyo University, which is over there in the distance." The man pointed in a direction, where Keitaro found Tokyo University that was also burning like Hinata Inn.

Keitaro was about to run over before the man continued, "Your feelings are not that easily represented and I'm afraid that your true feelings have yet to manifest in a form." He tossed his dice up in the air and caught it, smiling "Picked the right number that time. Well, anyways, there's also another main part of your soul, which represents Shinigami powers. And that part would be…me" the man pointed to himself, leaving Keitaro even more confused.

"So that would make you…"

"That would make me your zanpakuto." The man simply said. Keitaro stared at him in shock. His zanpakuto? The suited man continued on, ignoring Keitaro's awestruck look "And the reason those buildings are burning" the man motioned toward the buildings "is because a hollow is currently trying to devour your soul."

"M-m-my soul?"

"Correct. He will forcibly absorb most of your soul before devouring you himself."

"T-t-then what the hell am I doing here? I need to get out and escape!" Keitaro panicked, looking around for an exit.

"Maa…relax, in here, time has little influence. Though I gotta say, you should hurry up and find a way to escape, because once those buildings burn down to nothing…you die as well as me."

"T-t-then what do I do? How do I get out of this?"

The suited man threw his dice once more before grinning "Easy. You find out my name."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In Soul Society…

"That's odd, we've lost contact with the academy group. Maybe we should…" A man clad in Shinigami robes spoke to himself, seated in a room where various instrument whined and bleeped. Just then, the door to the room was burst open as another shinigami ran in.

"Sir! Our detectors pick up a large amount of hollows!" The leader in charge looked surprised before asking back.

"How many?"

"I believe…a total group of 43 hollows!" The man seemed shocked before quickly replying

"Send a message to Soul Society! We need about 4 entire Shinigami teams here ASAP!" The man shouted before another person entered the room, causing both of the occupants already in the room to fall silent.

"My my…having some trouble are we? Need me to lend a hand here?" The two shinigami in the room just stared, their jaws dropping to the ground.

"Y-y-you are…"

TBC

-------------------------------------------

A/N How rotten of me? I'm late on updates and then I leave a major cliffhanger…Sort of mean isn't it? Oh well.

You wouldn't believe the many troubles I had writing this chapter. I rewrote the chapter about 6 times due to extreme suckiness. So many many troubles… And then I had to rescrap about 7 different ideas for this fic. IT WAS SO FRUSTRATING! So many issues…

Problems with the timelines, how to get Keitaro to become a shinigami within the timeline, and then so many other issues…THAT was amazingly tough. Believe me, it was hard to write this chapter. Too hard. And I'm not even sure I wrote this chapter properly. Did I write this chapter well? Seriously, so many of my previous ideas sucked that I'm not sure if this was even good…please tell me…

One of my main issues… Keitaro's zanpakuto, the thing that I'm tearing my hair apart for. I had about 4 ideas for his zanpakuto, each of them extremely powerful. I had to scrap every one of them too… So I was mostly going to base Keitaro's zanpakuto that involves his own luck. If there are any suggestions for his zanpakuto, I'm more than willing to stop tearing my hair out and listen to them.

But since I left such a cliffhanger, I'll just say that his zanpakuto involves luck. That's all I'll say.

I felt that the hollows was the easiest way to implement Keitaro's zanpakuto early in the story, though there are many other ways, I thought this might be the easiest, so there might be a little deja vu from both the anime and how Motoko found her zanpakuto.

Oh by the way, the Sayo in this chapter is the Sayo from Mahou Sensei Negima. Why? I hate making OC's so I just decided to make character based on another character from Akamatsu. But she will play a part later on, just nothing big.

And now, to inform you early, several of the more mysterious characters in LH (Namely Haruka, Granny Hina, Seta, etc...) will be much more intertwined with the world of the Shinigami than you think... just remember this is an AU, so don't be pissed if they are weird things...

I believe that the Shinigami academy only requires 6 years of training, I read that somewhere. While I think that Keitaro got in way too quickly, that was the only way I could bring him into the Shinigami academy without hassle with a 10 year timeskip... Sorry if it sounds weird and all, but please just ignore how fast Keitaro got into the academy.

Voting for fights is still on. Though some of the fights I can't really implement, but Su will see lots of action (Why does everyone want to see her fight so much?) and I'll try to keep the fights more of the Bleach style. That means the good guys won't always win. In fact, most of them won't win...against Captains and stuff.

Anyways, I hope I didn't disappoint. Leave a review on your way out.

And now... next chapter, Keitaro finds out his zanpakuto's name...and about his own name. What the hell is Granny Hina doing in Soul Society? See in the next chapter!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N I'm sorry about the several month long wait for this chapter to come out. I was too busy to write, and whenever I did write, I experienced so much writer's block that I had to rewrite this multiple times before I was finally satisfied. I'm not sure if this is as good, so please forgive me if this isn't written as well.

As for this chapter, Keitaro's zanpakuto will be revealed...

Now without any further delays, here is the next chapter of Keitaro, the Shinigami.

------------------------ **Chapter 4 Welcome to Heaven Part 2 - Zanpakuto**

Haruka Urashima was a temperamental woman, always prone to bouts of anger, especially when it came to her mysterious age, which no one knew and would never dare to ask. She was the manager, owner, cook, and waitress of the Hinata teahouse, situated in front of the inn.

It was a small but humble teahouse, which rarely saw customers. The Hinata inn was infamous, especially from its reputation….or rather…its tenants' reputation. Well, the sight of seeing males flying through the air at the speeds of rockets is quite fearful.

Some days, Haruka felt like quitting her job, closing down the teahouse and spend the rest of her life vacationing with the money she had from her old archaeological days. But then, she remembered a certain shop owner who hadn't seen a customer since his shop had opened. It was a reminder that no matter how much crap she would go through, or what life would dump on her, that Urahara Kisuke would always have it worse.

And that uplifted her spirits quite a bit

Right now, Haruka's teashop had a group of 3 customers, who were laughing and joking around with their tea. And it was really starting to piss Haruka off. Especially when they tried hitting on her.

"Ne, Haruka-chan! Come join us for a drink!" one male patron boisterously yelled.

Just now, the flirting was getting to Haruka, and now, a vein was pulsing on her forehead and she was barely restraining herself from unleashing all hell on the customers. In fact, she was already whispering to herself "The customer is always right. The customer is always right."

"Hey, Haruka-chan! I have two tickets to a concert that someone of your age would like!" One man said cheerfully. His companions, however, gasped and suddenly shot back 50 feet away, shaking and trembling.

For the man had just broken the law of never mentioning Haruka Urashima's age. And now she hovered right above him, all hell about to break loose.

"Someone….of my age….huh?" the very fires of hell burned in Haruka's eyes. The man continued, oblivious to the impending doom.

"Yeah! It'll be perfect!" the man smiled. His friends however, were already beginning his funeral preparations. The man finally noticed something wrong once he saw the horror that was Haruka's angry eyes. "….Haruka…chan?"

Haruka didn't say anything as her fist impacted with the bottom of the man's head, sending him rocketing into the sky. There was a slight sparkle in the sky as the man disappeared into the atmosphere.

If Naru's trademarked punch or Motoko's infamous ki attacks could be seen as powerful, then Haruka's punch would have been godllike. The combined powers of the pervert hating brunette and kendo girl paled in comparison to the unleashed fury of Haruka Urashima. The poor victim got to experience this first hand as he was sent all across the world, where he got a nice view of the 7 Wonders of the World and was never seen again.

Haruka calmly returned to wiping the table. The man's companions gawked at her, as they trembled in pure fear..

Another casualty of Haruka's age.

Haruka turned her attention on the remaining people and gave the evil eye so scary that even the devil would have cried in fear.

"So, would you like anything to order, _customers._"

"No…no…thanks for tea!"

After nearly wetting themselves, the scared customers threw down some money and darted out of the teahouse, not even checking the amount of money left behind. Haruka sighed, her mood spoiled. She grabbed the money and placed it in the cashier, and returned to her daily task of leaning on the counter with a bored expression while smoking from her ever present cigarette.

"These things are going to kill me one day…" Haruka gazed at her cigarette. She had tried to stop several times, but smoking had become something of a habit. She knew it was unhealthy, but she didn't care; she'd rather have the lung cancer than just spend the rest of her days sitting in the teahouse without something to smoke. Yep, life was pretty boring.

It had been several months since Keitaro had died. The Hinata Inn was still dreary and depressing. Haruka though the tenants would've gotten over his death by now, but apparently they felt more about their male manager than they let on. Haruka had long since gotten over it; she had lost many comrades in the years, and she had already long since closed off her emotions. That was why she was slightly annoyed that the tenants were still moping about it.

After an hour, no more customers came and Haruka sighed. Well, since no one was coming…

"I guess I'll close shop early. I have to check on the girls anyway." Haruka said out loud to nobody in particular. She put out her cigarette and took off her green apron bearing the title "Hinata Teashop" and hung it on a nearby hook.

After locking up the shop, Haruka took a brisk pace and walked into the city, taking long easy strides and keeping her bored expression. After walking for almost an hour, she arrived in a desolate area of the city, and ended up at her destination. She arrived at an old shop, which was crumbling and falling apart. It was located in the back alley of some street, away from the public view.

This was the Urahara shop, home to a self proclaimed businessman who had never had any business ever. Haruka sighed and lit another cigarette. It had been a long time since she had been in this shop. Urahara Kisuke was an old comrade of her days before archeology.

Out in the front porch of the shop, Haruka spied a young boy and girl, who were busy sweeping the front stoop. Apparently, the boy was bullying the younger girl.

"But…Jinta-kun…"

"Shut up, Ururu! If you want to clean so much, than keep on sweeping! But I, Jinta, will leave this dusty old shitty shop and get into the Major Leagues! Believe it!"

Just as Jinta said these words, a huge giant of a man walked up behind the kids, Ururu and Jinta. The giant wore a pair of small glasses, and had a scary face He stood over 6 feet tall, and was extremely muscle bound. This man was the assistant shopkeeper for Urahara shop. He was named Tessai.

"Oh? Do you think of our proud, wonderful little shop as dusty, old, and shitty? Is that so, Jinta?" the giant dangerously whispered. It was obvious that he was really proud of the shop. Jinta blanched and nearly fainted. Just as Tessai was preparing to punish the boy, Haruka stepped in.

"Oi, is Kisuke here at this dusty old shitty shop? I need to see him." Haruka calmly said. Tessai's glasses cracked from the pure fury he was feeling. He rounded on the newcomer, preparing to deliver some terrible torture.

"You!" Tessai started but then saw who the person was. His attitude took an abrupt 180 degree turn "H-h-h-Haruka-san! What a pleasure to see you here…"

He nervously laughed as he tried to ignore Haruka's terrible gaze.

"So, is Kisuke here?"

"Yes, the owner is inside…l-l-l-let me show you inside…" Tessai nervously said. He tried to look small but failed miserably. He led Haruka inside the old shop while Ururu and Jinta stared. They had never known anyone who could make the assistant shopkeeper so shaken like that.

"What was that about?"

Inside the shop, Haruka examined the dusty shelves which held many outdated and very strange products. The shop lacked the modern interior of a convenience store, and seemed more like something in the Feudal Japan era. The design was similar to Haruka's traditional style tea house, except it was much less pleasant.

"Hmph. Still running this poor excuse as a store huh?" Haruka offhandedly said. Tessai twitched but merely responded with "Yes."

The pair continued to tour through the store silently until they arrived in the back. Inside one of the back rooms, a floor hatch was opened, revealing an inky blackness. Tessai motioned for Haruka to climb down and Haruka obliged. After Haruka climbed down, Tessai followed after her. The two didn't exchange words.

At the bottom of the ladder, an amazing scene greeted them. Beneath the Urahara shop was an enormous cavern large enough to fit several stadiums. The cavern consisted of rocky ground with many boulders, a simulated blue sky, and enough light to make the cavern as bright as day, though the light source was mysterious. How this enormous space could be there was unknown, but the cavern was Kisuke and Tessai's greatest pride. But today, their greatest pride was completely scarred. There were enormous craters and huge lines cutting across the earth. Destroyed boulders scattered their rocks everywhere.

Right in the middle of the training ground was a pair of figures facing each other. One figure was Urahara Kisuke, founder of the Urahara shop. He stood calmly and held an elegantly decorated katana that was very wide. The blade was curved more than normal and a crimson ribbon dangled off of the sword. Kisuke wore a pinstriped hat, green clothes and a pair of traditional Japanese sandals. He was quite a mysterious man, always seeming to know more than he let on. Otherwise, he was a jovial laid back fellow, always acting with a care free attitude. He was currently facing his opponent, which turned out to be Motoko.

Motoko was dressed in the usual shinigami uniform. She held her zanpakuto in front of her, panting with exhaustion and struggling to keep herself from collapsing. Sweat trickled down her forehead in tiny little beads and dirt covered almost her entire body. Her zanpakuto was strikingly similar to her sword given to her by the Shinmeiryuu, _Shisui_, and it had a wooden grip and no tsuba or guard.

The two stared each other off for a moment. Motoko tensed up, trying to cover any holes in her defense and tried to circle around Kisuke. Kisuke however was completely relaxed, lazily holding his sword forward, barely keeping up with Motoko's movements. Then, out of nowhere, she leapt forward, swinging her sword forward.

Kisuke easily dodged the sword by leaning backward. Motoko continued to attack, sending a combo of various thrusts and swings. Kisuke dodged each attack with apparent ease, keeping his grin on his face. No matter what way Motoko swung at him, the sword never hit. This continued on for a while before Kisuke finally took mercy on the tiring Motoko and blocked her blade. Then, without hesitation, he suddenly went on the offensive.

Motoko desperately dodged and blocked Kisuke's attacks. Every time their swords came in contact, she was pushed back several feet and nearly forced her to the ground. Every time she dodged a strike, Kisuke's sword would continue forward and completely decimate the earth, creating an enormous crater.

"Motoko-san, your movements are too similar to kendo style. In a battle between shinigami, kendo has no use at all. You're not using your reiatsu to enhance your strikes and you always hesitate to attack." Kisuke called out as Motoko dodged yet another powerful slash. "At this rate, you might die you know."

_Damn! If only I could use Shinmeiryuu_ _techniques…but a shinigami_ _can't use ki_. Motoko thought as she ducked under a horizontal swing and then leapt up in the air to avoid the follow up attack. Kisuke suddenly chuckled.

"You're probably thinking that you can win if only you could use ki and do your special Shinmeiryuu techniques." Kisuke mused. Motoko was surprised. It was as if he could read her mind… "But you know, Motoko-san, just thinking about what you need to win won't help. It's not what you need; it's what you can _do_. If you can't use one thing, then adapt and use another. Adapting in a battle can decide whether you live or die."

_He's right, but it's easier said than done. What can I use to win? There's nothing I can do!_ Motoko barely dodged yet another monstrous attack and rolled on the ground with the rubble and dust from the ensuing damage covering her with more dirt.

Kisuke paused for a while, allowing Motoko to catch her breath. He calmly told her "You're getting better."

Motoko looked up and glared at Kisuke "Well maybe if you taught me how to learn my zanpakuto's name…"

Kisuke pulled a fan out of nowhere and covered his mouth. "Ho ho ho, how can a simple businessman like me help you learn such a complicated thing?"

"I'm not sure if you should call yourself a businessman. Hopeless idiot, more likely." the voice of Haruka echoed through the underground cavern. She suddenly appeared next to Motoko and Kisuke, her bored expression and lit cigarette present.

"Oh, if it isn't Haruka-san!" Kisuke cheerily remarked "It's been a while! What brings you here?"

"Nothing that really concerns you.." Haruka plainly stated. Kisuke tried to speak once more, but Haruka abruptly changed the subject and turned to Motoko. "How goes the training?"

Motoko looked down and humbly replied "I am improving by a slight amount, but it is not satisfactory enough."

"I see." Haruka gave a slight smile, the only type she would give. "Do your best. I believe in you."

"You see, Motoko-san, even Haruka has faith in you!" Kisuke added in "and she never has faith in anyone!"

"What do you mean by that, Urahara…?"

"Eh! Nothing! Nothing at all!" Kisuke smiled again and waved his hands around. Haruka said nothing; she simply hurled a rock she had picked up from the ground. There was a crashing sound and then screams of pain.

"Next time he gives you trouble, give me a call." Haruka calmly said and took another puff from her cigarette. "Really, that guy is annoying."

"Y-yes, Haruka-san." Motoko politely said. "Thank you for coming out all this way to see me."

Haruka waved it off "Don't worry about it. I was just bored and had nothing better to do. I just felt like checking up on you and seeing how you were doing."

The two chatted for a while with Haruka often leading the conversation and Motoko usually replying only with "Hai." After a while, Haruka turned to leave. "Then, I'll see you later, Motoko." With a lazy wave, she was off. She climbed back up the ladder as the two resumed their training.

It had been quite some time since Motoko had obtained her Shinigami powers. Perhaps a few weeks? Well, Haruka didn't quite remember, nor did she really care. The rest of the Hinata girls had long since recovered and had most of their memories removed of the incident. Though Haruka was quite interested, how on earth did Motoko come by Shinigami powers? Oh well, that wasn't something that she could figure out.

Haruka sighed, as she recalled how Motoko was after the whole incident with the Quincy and the hollows. It was quite depressing...

------Flashback-------

Haruka opened the entrance to the Urahara shop. It had been about 3 days since the whole Quincy incident. Haruka was quite worried, though not as much as most normal people in her position would be, as she hadn't seen any of the tenants of Hinata inn for 3 days. The moment that she felt like she had free time, she hurried over to the Urahara shop.

She was greeted by Urahara Kisuke, who grinned and gave her a cheerful greeting.

"Why if it isn't Haruka-san? What can I do for you today?" he stood up, waving his fan. Haruka glared at him.

"Cut the bullshit. You know perfectly well why I'm here. How are they?" Kisuke's carefree demeanor instantly changed into much more of a serious one. It was quite unsettling, as the serious Kisuke was quite mysterious in the way that he seemed to know what would happen.

"All of the girls have damage to their souls. The hollow was right about to eat them. All of them are unconscious, and they will need a few days of healing before they can awaken. There is no immediate danger to their souls however." Kisuke said. Haruka let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding. "However, that Shinmeiryuu girl who awoken her powers in the fight is quite a wreck right now."

"Why?"

"She's the only one who's awake. All she does is sit in the room, watching the other girls. She refuses to talk, eat, sleep, or even move." Kisuke said, his eyes boring into the gaze of Haruka.

"Don't worry. She's always been like that. Motoko always puts the blame on herself for things out of her hand. I'll talk to her." Haruka said. Kisuke nodded and he stood up. She followed him out of the room to the large room where the Hinata tenants were resting.

Motoko was a mess. She hadn't showered in a long time. Her hair was unkempt and her eyes shrunk. She gazed longingly ahead, as she watched the Hina girls sleep. Haruka sighed. Motoko was reduced to almost nothing...

Haruka stared at her for a while. Motoko did nothing to acknowledge that she even knew she was there. Finally, Haruka couldn't stand it anymore. She stalked right up to the sitting form of Motoko and slapped her right on the right cheek.

The sound echoed throughout the store, and made many flinch. It was quite a strong slap. Motoko, shocked, fell to the ground with surprise etched on her face. It was the first bit of emotion she had on her emotionless face in a long time. Motoko stared at Haruka shocked, and with small tears forming in her eyes.

"Haruka-san...what was that about?" Motoko asked bewildered, as she nursed her stinging cheek.

"Don't fuck around with me! I think you know perfectly well what that was about!" Haruka said, her eyes narrowing. Her voice was frightening "What has the great Motoko Aoyama become? The Motoko I knew would've retaliated if I just hit her like that."

"But...Haruka-san..."

"You're despicable. Look at what you've become! You're a wreck."

"But, I failed to protect them! Because of me, they are in this condition! Because I was too weak." Motoko indicated the unconscious forms of the Hinata girls. Haruka glared at her.

"But it was because of you that they still live. When will you stop living in the past? When will you begin to accept what's happened and look onward to the future?"

"I can't! Keitaro trusted me with their lives, and look what I did. I couldn't..."

"YOU DID EXACTLY AS KEITARO WANTED YOU TO DO! YOU PROTECTED THEM, DID YOU NOT? YOU SAVED THEIR LIVES, DID YOU NOT? YOU DEFEATED THE HOLLOW AND SAVED EVERYONE, DID YOU NOT?" Haruka roared. Her furious state was a sight to behold. No one could dare stand up against her in such a state, not even the might Aoyama. Motoko flinched as Haruka continued. "My cousin would've wanted you to live! He didn't die just so you all could mope around and become ghosts!"

Motoko gasped. "Haruka-san, I'm sorry...about Keitaro..."

Haruka took a deep breath and calmed herself down. Her voice returned to normal. It had been a long time since she last lost her cool, Haruka mused. "It's alright. I've already accepted his death. You know, its not the first time for me to lose someone precious..." Motoko looked at her quizzically "but you know, he's probably in Soul Society right now."

Haruka changed the topic and returned her focus on Motoko "I know that you think you were responsible for all of this. You weren't. You did brilliantly Motoko. Continue to live. Continue to train and grow stronger as a shinigami. So the next time, you can protect them again and continue to do so. That is what my cousin would've wanted you to do."

"H-hai..."

"Good. Now go clean yourself up. You're a mess. I'll get Kisuke to train you to be a shinigami. He's a good teacher for those kind of things you know."

"But Haruka-san...how do you know about shinigami, Soul Society, and hollows?" Motoko asked confused.

Haruka thought about this for a while and then gave a enigmatic grin. "That...that's none of your business."

--------------End Flashback-------------

Haruka had a slight smile on her face as she returned to her teashop. Motoko was indeed growing. Maybe she could become a great shinigami...

Haruka opened the door to her teashop, and took her usual placed behind the counter. She was smoking once again, her bored expression once again present. It was another boring day behind the counter... But today, something felt different. It was as if somewhere, something was taking place...

------------

"Are you ready, Keitaro?" The zanpakuto avatar said. He was a man, dressed in a dark business suit with moderately handsome looks. His expression was purely serious. In the background was Keitaro's soul, or what it looked like. There was a burning Hinata Inn and Tokyo University in the background of a seemingly endless sky blue now scorched red. It represented the fact that he was currently being ripped apart by a hollow in the real world.

"Yes." Keitaro said in a serious manner as well. The two stared at each other before yelling in unison.

"JAN KEN PO!"

Yes, Keitaro and his Zanpakuto were playing rock, paper, scissors. Keitaro put out a rock. His opponent put out paper.

"Ahh... Keitaro you really suck at this... that's my 30th consecutive win..." the zanpakuto remarked. Keitaro sweat dropped.

"Can you explain to me why we are playing rock paper scissors?" Keitaro asked. The zanpakuto smiled.

"Well, I was hoping that you would like to have a little fun...it's kinda boring here by myself." the man joked. Keitaro face faulted.

"What's with that? I might be dying and that's all you care about??" Keitaro screeched in a comedic manner. The zanpakuto gave a hearty laugh.

"Well Keitaro, when you attempt to find my name, it'll be quite dangerous. You'll be putting your life on the line. I'm just trying to help you relax before that." the man said in a much more serious tone. "but I guess we've had enough of the play time. It's time, Keitaro."

Suddenly, the zanpakuto and Keitaro both were completely dead serious. The zanpakuto looked directly into Keitaro eyes and said "Now, you have a chance to turn back. You may have a chance to break out of the hollow's grip, albeit a slight one. But if you fail to find my name...you will end with a fate worse than any hollow."

"I'm not turning back."

The zanpakuto smiled "Good. Then let's begin."

Without warning, flames erupted from the zanpakuto avatar. Keitaro was hurled away as enormous pressure sent him flying away. Fire scorched the air and the earth. Intense heat, as strong as the sun, flowed from the flames surrounding the zanpakuto avatar. For a moment, Keitaro saw and felt the most intense flame he ever experienced. It was enormous, the tips of the hot fire already engulfing the size of the Hinata Inn. It burned off of nothing; there was no fuel, just pure flame. Keitaro stumbled back as waves of heat washed over his body.

He was in awe. He was so amazed that he hardly felt the scorching heat at his skin. If this was in the material world, he would've melted already, but this was his soul. Still, the heat would be unbearable should he focus on feeling it.

The dancing flames before him was enormous. Red hot fire wrapped around a small human-like being encased in the hot flames. It was no longer possible to discern the figure hidden amongst the waves of heat. It took all of Keitaro's weak willpower to keep him from yelling and backing out of it.

"**Keitaro Urashima, are you ready?"** the voice made Keitaro tremble to the bones. He fell to his knees, as the deep voice almost commanded him to fall to his knees. It was like the distant rumble of thunder.

"A-a-a-are you m-my z-z-zanpakuto?" Keitaro asked in awe and fear. The being nodded.

The great beast spoke. He motioned toward the burning Hinata Inn in the background. "**Inside there is an object. An object of great desire to you. Find this object, and bring it to me. Then my true name shall be revealed."**

Keitaro nodded and tried to stand. But the intense energy from the zanpakuto made him fall back down. After several long minutes, he finally mustered the strength to stand. He walked shakily as he stood before the burning Hinata Inn. Keitaro took a deep breath and then ran into the fire.

The majestic being looked on with great interest. "**Can you do it Keitaro? Can you brave the flames and fight the danger? Can you save yourself?" **the being looked around, as more fire engulfed the two buildings inside Keitaro's soul. "**If you should not, then this entire world will burn along with what's left of your humanity."**

-

Keitaro stumbled through the burning wreckage. The inn was almost exactly how he remembered it, except of course it was on fire. He stumbled through the living room, the room where Kitsune usually sat and bet on the horse race. Right now, the entire room was torched black. Burning debris fell from the ceiling and almost crushed him.

It was hard to focus. The fumes were getting to him. But what hurt the most was the memories. Keitaro could only watch as the precious inn, full of his memories, burned down around him. Along with it were thousands and thousands of Keitaro's happiest moments in his life. A small salty tear fell from his eyes as he left the living room.

He came to the kitchen, where Shinobu once dominated. The dining table, where everyone once gathered around was reduced to ashes. Everything else was ashes. Ashes and fire. Keitaro avoided the many fires burning the floor, and leaped over a pile of burning wood to the next room. As he left, he could've sworn he heard the sounds of Shinobu cooking.

The hot springs had become a literal pool of fire. The water inside the once happy spring was now replaced with burning logs and smoke.

Every room he went to was the same. It was all burning. Keitaro then climbed up the stairs to the second floor, where he knew everyone's rooms where. His first stop was the rooftop. The place brought so many memories of him seeing Shinobu hanging up laundry, Motoko practicing kendo, or just a few tenants sitting there, watching the sun set. Right now, the entire rooftop was inaccessible. He went back down to the rooms, desperate to find that object and get out of this place.

Danger was everywhere. Everywhere was flames. Falling debris nearly crushed him wherever he went. Kitsune's room was completely demolished. Only small bits of empty melting sake bottles were left. Shinobu's room. Shinobu's favorite dolls were ashes now, along with what was left of her room. Motoko's room. The once clean and organized room was full of fallen burning debris. Her decorations of the Samurai armor and the scrolls with the characters written in them were strewn about the floor. Su's room. The jungle within was now burning down to nothing. Here the flames were the most intense as Su's prized inventions exploded.

Finally, the last room. Naru Narusegawa. Keitaro slid open the door, and felt a curious sensation as though he was prepared to get hit with a Naru Punch. Here, memories rose anew. Here was where he, Naru, and Mutsumi studied together. Here was where Naru lived, the girl of his dreams. Now, the room of his beloved was now destroyed.

Wiping his tears away, Keitaro entered the room in search of the object that the zanpakuto had wanted. CRACK! A part of the ceiling collapsed and pinned Keitaro to the ground. He screamed as the heavy wood crushed his leg. He struggled to get out, but it was too heavy. After a long time, he gave up. He laid on the ground, the inn burning all around him.

"Heh...I guess it's over then..." Keitaro felt the strength leaving him. "Sorry girls...I couldn't do it... I couldn't even be a shinigami..."

He closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable. What he didn't expect was the familiar voice of someone he didn't expect.

"Baka. Why are you giving up? What happened to the stubborn ronin who failed 3 times to get into Toudai? Are you always going to need our help?" the soft voice of Naru Narusegawa flowed into Keitaro's ears. He opened his eyes. Surrounding him were the tenants of Hinata.

No, not them exactly. They seemed more like ghosts... ghosts of his past drifting from his memory, or just an illusion caused by the fumes of the fire.

"Everyone..." he smiled. They smiled back. They reached out a hand. Keitaro tried to grab it, but they were too far away. Too far... "NO!" he screamed as they began to fade away. He had to do something. He had to reach them. If only he could push off the logs...

Utilizing the last of his strength, he tried to push off the debris. With a sudden burst of inexplicable energy, he manage to free his legs. He fell back to the ground, panting heavily. He looked around for the girls, but they were no longer there.

Keitaro shakily got back on his feet. His head was disoriented and dizzy. What was the object that the zanpakuto wanted him to find? He looked around Naru's room, something that would've been instant punishment before. It was then he found it.

It was the only unburned object in the room. As he touched it, he felt a feeling of nostalgia and excitement tug at him. This had to be it. He picked it up. Hurriedly, he scrambled out of the room and down the stairs, avoiding more flames on the way.

He was almost at the entrance to the building when it began to collapse. Just as he ran outside, the doorway collapsed along with a good quarter of the inn. Keitaro grinned as he tiredly ran back to the patiently waiting zanpakuto.

"I got it..." he collapsed. He held out the item. It was a photo book, holding a collection of photo stickers of Keitaro by himself. But on one of the pages, he wasn't alone. It was a photo of him and Naru together, the first time he had ever taken a picture with a girl. It was one of his fondest memories of his time with Naru. It was at that moment that he felt as if Naru could've been his promise girl. It was that moment that Keitaro first developed his feelings for her.

The zanpakuto stared at the picture for a while before nodding and accepting it. "**Congratulations. You are worthy of learning my name. Through fire, you have braved danger to get this. But remember this, even if you would not have gained anything in return, I am certain you would have gone through twice the danger just to save your precious memories contained within this picture."**

The zanpakuto avatar handed the picture book back to Keitaro, who accepted it bewildered. The fire burning Toudai and Hinata Inn within Keitaro's soul had intensified and was now on the verge of completely reducing the buildings to ashes. The once clear blue sky was now completely blood red.

"**Now listen carefully, Keitaro Urashima. Open your ears and listen to me. My name is..."**

----------

"_**Haininaru, Houou Enkou!"**_

Flames erupted from Keitaro as the tentacles that once captured him was burned away. Reiatsu flooded the area in massive torrents as the hollows in the area howled. Suddenly, all attention was on the figure wreathed in hot flames. Keitaro Urashima stood in the center, dressed fully in the black shinigami uniform. In his hands was a zanpakuto, shining brightly in the heat.

The hollow that had almost eaten him roared in pain as the fire burned it. It tried to attack Keitaro, but every time its tentacles neared him, the flames intensified.

Slowly, but surely, the erratic reiatsu became more controlled and the flames surrounding Keitaro disappeared altogether. All that was left was Keitaro with a nondescript zanpakuto held in his hands. The released form of Keitaro's zanpakuto was normal, with a long slender blade, a golden square-shaped hand guard, and a long red grip. The only special part about the zanpakuto was the shiny blade, which shone more brightly than any metal should.

The huge hollows, angry and thirsting for his blood, surrounded him. They were eager to rip him apart, and would've done so easily, whether Keitaro could release his zanpakuto or not. In fact, it would most likely require a 3rd seat or higher shinigami to take on all of the huge hollows surrounding him. Keitaro was certain that he had no chance to win. But he wasn't going to go out without a fight.

He summoned his spiritual energies around him and collected his frantic mind, attaining a high level of focus and meditation. He prepared for a fight, but something unexpected stopped him.

"_Ikorosu, __**Shinso**_"

A quiet voice echoed throughout the area from somewhere behind the large amount of hollows. Suddenly, without warning, a bright ray of shining white light shot through the air and sliced through the hollow to shreds. The bright beam swerved and took out nearly all of the hollows in one deadly swoop. The surviving students could only stare in awe as the large force of hollows were exterminated within a matter of seconds.

Keitaro stared as the beam of light totally devastated the hollows and slaughtered every last one of them. Once the hollows were defeated, the beam of light receded and eventually returned to its source.

A silver-haired man wearing a white haori bearing the kanji character for "3" on its back over a black shinigami uniform was busy sheathing his zanpakuto, which had just been reverted from the long deadly ray that had just annihilated the hollows. His long silver hair almost completely covered his eyes, which were slitted so much that no once could see his eyes. He was smiling widely and seemed as if the grin on his face was completely removable.

This man was Ichimaru Gin, Captain of the 3rd Division of the Gotei 13.

Keitaro suddenly felt the horrifying sensation of snakes wrapping around his neck. He felt inexplicable fear as the man's unyielding amused gaze swept over the destroyed area. Something about the man unnerved him. There was just _something_ off about him.

Next to Ichimaru Gin was a blonde haired man who was obviously his lieutenant, the vice-captain of the 3rd Division. He was named Izuru Kiba and was known to exhibit an undying loyalty toward his captain.

"That's a lot of blood, how scary." The Shinigami captain continued, remarking the huge splatters of blood where the academy students were slaughtered by the hollows. His grin never faded "That's quite a sight, but I think I've seen this before."

"Who the hell are you?" One of the braver students yelled. Only a few of them had ever seen a captain or recognized them. Most of the were glaring at the newcomer, while those aware of his rank cowered and shook in fear and awe.

"Who am I?" Ichimaru quizzically asked, his grin widening even more. His reiatsu briefly flared, allowing the people to sense that this man was on a completely different level if not world. "My my, where are my manners? My name is Ichimaru Gin, Captain of the 3rd Division. Nice to meet ya'"

He gave a cheery wave and his grin seemed more unsettling then ever. The students all gasped and gawked at him at this revelation. They seem to have froze in place, observing the vastly more powerful spirit entity before them.

"Y-y-you're a captain?" several students muttered in sheer disbelief.

"Why, don't I look like one?" Gin casually said in his odd Osaka dialect. Some shivered. "My, some of you don't seem very grateful I'm here. Ahh, just when I decided to lend a hand just out of kindness."

As the uncomfortable silence ensued, several portals opened, revealing shinigami squads, mainly from the healing-oriented 4th squad. Soon, the entire area was full of shinigami, who were busy providing aid toward those injured.

In the confusion, Ichimaru Gin noticed Keitaro, who was standing alone amongst the crowd. He walked up to him, his smile widening as his gaze fell to Keitaro's new zanpakuto. Keitaro instinctively braced for an attack. Fear seemed to shake him inside out.

"Amazing, that's a pretty zanpakuto you have there. How did an academy student like you get their sword so early?" Ichimaru curiously asked, as he bent closer to examine Keitaro's blade. Keitaro flinched as the horrifying aura of Ichimaru's pressure closed on him.

"I'm not sure..." Keitaro stuttered, his voice failing him as Ichimaru stood up to his full height and seemed to stare through his closed eyes.

"Interesting... Very interesting... What's your name?" Ichimaru asked in a very unpolite way, though in a very commanding way fit for a captain.

"Keitaro Urashima." Keitaro nervously said. His voice was so quiet that Ichimaru had to strain his ears to hear it.

"Keitaro Urashima eh? That's a funny name. I won't forget it." Gin's grin grew wider as the two stared off. Keitaro, being the shorter one, was trembling nervously as he struggled to find something to break the enormous tension between him. Gin, not affected in the slightest, just casually waved "Ja, I'll C'ya later then."

With a flutter of his captain's robes, he swiftly turned around and graciously exited the area with the air of someone exceedingly powerful. Almost immediately, Keitaro collapsed to his knees, struggling for air. He took several deep breaths to calm his nerves and after a long time, he managed to calm his frantic heartbeat and the adrenaline coursing through his body. His hands shook uncontrollably.

"W-w-what was that?"

Keitaro had heard about the terrifying power of captains, but he never expected it to be so fearful. Later on, he would go back to this moment and wonder, just what kind of dark things lay hidden under Ichimaru Gin's smile?

-----

Keitaro strolled through the halls of the academy. It was the day after the training incident. Several of the surviving students were in the infirmary, some had quit trying to be shinigami altogether, and some, like Keitaro, were on break from normal academy activities.

Though he had suffered little damage, Keitaro was still subject to being stuck inside the school infirmary all day long.

Placed within his belt was his newly formed zanpakuto. As a student, Keitaro was one of the few who managed to receive his zanpakuto before graduating. Therefore, he was subject to quite a lot of curious stares.

A zanpakuto was the very soul of a shinigami, literally and figuratively. Without it, a shinigami was nearly powerless. It was the very core of a shinigami, something that separated from those worthy to be a shinigami or those who are not. At graduation, those who could discover their zanpakuto were shamed and became part of the shinigami reserves, who were the powerless shinigami used for only the most menial tasks.

To have someone discover the zanpakuto within weeks of entering the academy...was unheard of.

Right now, Keitaro had been summoned by the headmaster of the academy, who wished a meeting with him. As to why, Keitaro could only guess that it had something to do with him releasing his zanpakuto. Which reminded him, he had yet to test out whatever powers it had or learn how to use it.

He slid open the sliding doors leading to one of the many meeting rooms within the academy. Behind the doors was a dimly lit room. At the far end of the room were several figures. One of them was the headmaster of the academy. 4 of them Keitaro did not recognize, but seem to be exceedingly rich due to the fancy clothes they wore. However, with a lurch, Keitaro recognized the last person sitting in the room.

It was the former owner of the Hinata Inn, Grandma Hina.

-

"Granny Hina!!?" Keitaro stared at her in shock, unbelieving of the image his eyes were sending. But there could be no mistake. The small figure of the old woman could only be the one and only Granny Hina. She was dressed in a very formal kimono and held an expression of amusement and curiosity. "What are you doing here? HAVE YOU FINALLY DIED, OLD HAG?"

"How rude! I'm only several hundred years old, much less than Yamamoto-kun." Hina said with a joking manner. Hina, unlike her relative, Haruka, did not mind comments about her age.

"WHAT?"

"Oh did I not tell you are bout that? I'm sorry, it must've slipped my mind." she chuckled merrily as she indicated for him to sit on the cushion placed in front of her. He did.

"Why are you here? You can't be dead can you?"

"Just as dead as my grandson sitting before me." Hina said, her eyes twinkling in amusement.

"Then..."

"Allow me to explain." Hina stood up and motioned toward one of the silent figures behind her. They handed her a sheathed sword, dark as night, and then bowed. Keitaro instantly recognized the sword as the _Youto Hina_, the Cursed Hina blade which was said to possess a dark spirit within and was one of the Urashima family heirlooms.

"Former Captain of the Gotei 13, Hina Urashima, at your service." With a dramatic bow, Hina held out the cursed sword before her horizontally "And this is my zanpakuto, _Hyoukyo_"

"Hina-obachan, y-y-you...you were a...a captain?" new found respect and awe filled Keitaro. As an academy student, the very mention of an existing captain would respect into them. "B-b-but how?"

"Well, I've never really bothered to explain my youth have I?" Hina chuckled "Let's start with the beginning. Our family, the Urashimas, have well... are one of the noble families of Soul Society."

Keitaro's jaw dropped.

"I'm...from a noble...family?"

"Partly. Several hundred years ago, I retired from the captain's position and received permission to reside in the material world as my retirement and lived with my relatives there.You see, centuries ago, half of the Urashima family split. One half moved to the material world including my own children who are your parents, while the other half stayed in Soul Society. I guess that's where you come in anyway." Hina said casually, picking at a few strands of her hair "Then I heard that you died, so I hurried back to Soul Society as fast as I could and tried to locate you within Rukongai, but it was quite difficult to find you. But then, the academy came in contact with me and revealed that an Urashima had enrolled at the academy. That's when I finally found you here."

Keitaro was still quite confused, but did get the basic idea. But he would've never thought that his seemingly normal boring family could really be one of the noble families of Soul Society.

"Well then, I guess I forgot to give you a present for you last birthday, so take this." Hina handed Keitaro her zanpakuto, which he now knew the true name was _Hyouko_.

"Are you kidding? I can't take this!"

"Don't worry about it. I don't need to use it in the human world, and you need it more than I do. By the way, that zanpakuto is very special so take good care of it? You can use it as long as its soul accepts you as its new master." Hina grinned and literally shoved her zanpakuto into Keitaro's hands, who struggled futilely.

Hina looked at her grandson with a sort of maternal pride. He was a nice guy, always generous and helping people. He would never lash back no matter what, unless someone whom he cherished was in danger. No matter what sort of punishment he took, he would always look to the next day with a smile and though he may not have any confidence for himself, he always had confidence in those around him, no matter how rotten or hopeless they should be. He was very humble and modest, and would never take anything good for himself, because he always wanted others to have it.

And now, he was to be more than he could ever be in the human world.

"And here." Hina reached behind her "This is your final gift."

Her arms came up with a long black shinigami uniform folded neatly in her hands. She graciously offered it to Keitaro, who stared at her in wonder.

"What is this?"

"A shinigami uniform. You're going to need it."

"What on earth do you mean? I'm still an academy student."

Grandma Hina smiled mischievously "Didn't you know? Anyone who descends from a noble family is guaranteed a rank amongst the shinigami without having to take a Gotei 13 entrance exam or graduation exam."

"What's that mean?" Keitaro asked. Hina sighed. Her grandson was always a bit slow.

"Get ready Keitaro, because that means you are now a Shinigami."

--------------------To be continued...

A/N Once again, sorry for the long wait. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that it didn't disappoint you.

As for Keitaro's zanpakuto, I will only reveal its name for now. Its power will be a surprise for a future battle. And yes it is a fire element zanpakuto

The name for it was chosen after I thought it out after reading the numerous PMs and reviews people sent to me suggesting zanpakuto names (some quite overpowered...). One particular PM gave me the idea that I should give it an element. At first, I was trying to go for a luck-based zanpakuto but cancelled that after I couldn't think of a good plausible zanpakuto using luck; besides I didn't want Keitaro to be some over-powered figure in battle. I chose for Keitaro's zanpakuto to be a fire element after finally realizing that a zanpakuto doesn't necessarily have to reflect off of the personality of its user. Most zanpakuto in the real Bleach weren't exactly based off the character, which was a problem for me until I realized it. So I decided on a fire-element that will have a twist with its abilites (to be explained later) because Keitaro didn't need some complicated, over-powered, zanpakuto with the way I plan to write battles. So most of you might be surprised, pissed off, or hopefully satisfied with the current zanpakuto. For those who aren't, I tried to compensate by having Keitaro use 2 zanpakutos (one from Granny Hina). So I'm sorry to those who expected more from Keitaro's zanpakuto, but I wasn't going to give him too much power.

As for how Granny Hina fits in the story...well it was just to help Keitaro become a shinigami faster without too giant of a plot hole.

Here is a short description of the zanpakuto I made up.

_Houou Enkou - _Keitaro's fire-element zanpakuto. Its name means either "Phoenix Flame" or "Phoenix Halo" I will go into detail on its power later. Rest assured, it will be unique for a fire-element and will involve a random factor in some way. Its release phrase is Haininaru or "Reduce to ashes"

_Hyoukyo_ - Hina's zanpakuto given to Keitaro and also the _Youto Hina_ in the canon LH manga. It means "Devil Possesion" or "Curse" Details will be explained in later chapter, but it will have a similar power as it did in the LH manga.

Voting for fights will end at the start of the Soul Society. Several fights are already decided on, while others are for you guys to decide.

So, I hoped you enjoy this chapter. Please leave a review on your way out.

Next chapter, the girls discover their true powers...and who are those two shinigami who appeared out of nowhere and what do they want with Rukia?


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